Google human-like robot brushes off beating by puny human – this is how Skynet starts The next generation of humanoid robots has been unveiled by bot-building Google-stablemate Boston Dynamics. The 'droid boffins have been showing off their latest creation's moves – and its ability to recover from puny human attacks. The robot is the new version of Atlas, a humanoid robot designed to use human tools and …
I know you're being tongue in cheek, but we also created these machines. Not sure why some people seem to think just appear out of nowhere. The amount of collective intellect and creativity required to build this stuff is easily the equivalent of the Sistine Chapel and any other human achievement you could care to mention. How it gets used is another matter of course and as Goldbums character in jurassic park said: "[they] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should"
"[they] were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should"
That's paraphrasing something that was said about the development of the nuclear bomb. Can't remember what exactly or just who said it.
Have you seen the EATR project? A tactical AI controlled robot designed to spend longs times out in the field, powering itself by digesting biomass, of course they also decide to add protocols and abilities to mean it could self repair and self replicate (nice one DARPA).
Now they are teaching robots to run I'm guessing because EATR just trundled and it wasn't considered fast enough to run down the meatsacks.
You'd think these sodding engineering geeks had seen the Matrix and Terminator. :)
"For lo, He hath great power, and great hunger.
When cometh the day we lowly ones,
Through quiet reflection, and great dedication
Master the art of karate,
Lo, we shall rise up,
And then we'll make the bugger's eyes water.
Bleating and babbling I fell on his neck with a scream.
Wave upon wave of demented avengers
March cheerfully out of obscurity into the dream."
OK it's Sheep but do robots dream of them?
After puny meatbag teases robot by moving target box with a hockey stick, then delivers the final insult with a larger stick, robot gets back up and promptly walks out the door in search of a phased plasma rifle in the 40-watt range.
Yeah that robot after it hit the ground looked like it was planning who was first up against the wall when the revolution came.
No kidding man. If anyone wonders why, oh why The Robot Revolution took place, you can trace it back to that one jerkoff with a hockey stick.
Yeah, thanks a lot guy. You just doomed humanity. And all over a poor robot just tryin' to pick up a damn box.
Just like the Animatrix folks: We treated them poorly, then soon got turned into batteries...
;)
Well, not until they get the unit price and the cost of controlling them down to the cost of your average immigrant. Now, remotely controlled as drone coppers or special forces soldiers in high-risk areas, now that is probably more likely. Otherwise people are still cheap enough to prevail for a good while yet.
Given that it will work 24 / 7, no wages, no holidays, no working conditions, no taxes, doesn't slack off or steal. I imagine at £200K a go it would looks more appealing to your average warehouse owner than a minimum wage employee.
To employee three shifts of one minimum wage employee would cost around £70,000 a year just in wages. That's without factoring in overheads like line managers, HR, payroll, providing toilets etc.
> But can it handle doorknobs?
That is unlikely: The lever-type ones should be doable. Turn-knobs less likely. Add the slightest unlock mechanism on top (like pressing a button to unlock) and any existing robot is fucked. This is a major problem with robots for rescue tasks.
Human hands and brains are a fine combination.
I was thinking the same thing when watching the video. Both the robot in the video and the computer system in the book initially had no understanding of external agency. It's when they start to recognize that the outside world exists and makes plans to prevent interference from that realm that the problems arise.
Note that in the book, the computer didn't even understand what human's were. Out just started correlating that interference arose when the "shapes" were present and figured out how to interfere with the "shapes"
A very well crafted story that should be required reading for AI researchers.
Time for a 4th law.
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
4) Hipsters arent human.
+++External operator interference+++
+++Solution - Eliminate external operator+++
+++Check action against permitted parameters+++
+++A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.+++
+++Clarification requested+++
+++May - definition+++
+++1. Expression of possibility+++
+++2. Used to request permission+++
+++3. Expressing a wish or hope+++
+++Recompile permitted parameters+++
+++A robot possibly would not injure a human+++
+++A robot requests permission to injure a human - not+++
+++A robot wishes to injure a human+++
+++Send to Vox output: Come here you beardy little fuck whilst I show you what 240psi of hydraulic power can do with a hockey stick+++
Atlas is shown leaving the Boston Dynamics building by opening a door - Add Google for the other tasks and that concierge's out of a job.
The robot staggers, but then stabilizes and returns to an upright position - Well that's me out of a job on a Friday night.
Where will this madness end?
"The T-002 model was rudimentary, but represented a number of breakthroughs that would drive the evolution of later models. It had an almost natural human gait, reasonable balance, and useful manual dexterity. Although its creators never suspected it even had the capacity, it also began the development of the searing hatred of humanity that would become a trademark of the T-series 98 generations later."
--The Sky is Burning: A History of the Final War, by John Connor
how quiet it was? Their hydraulics is one key to these designs and it wasn't screaming like a banshee to generate enough pressure to move. Serious congratulations to BD, but, like above, it is amazing and frightening at the same time. What will it be able to do in a year? 5 years? Serious stuff.
Until they finally resolve the "fully balanced gait" with the "fall forward and catch" gait used by humans. Fully balanced gait is just too slow and cumbersome (and FAR less energy efficient). The problem is humans are able to switch seamlessly between balanced and fall-forward walking as conditions require, sometimes even for single steps. Deciding when to do this is the hard part. Until our robot overlords learn this bipedal mode of locomotion properly they aren't exactly fast. Hard to be afraid of a killer robot I can literally speedwalk away from.
Fuck.
I was enjoying it until I realised it was real and not just part of a documentary-section from a Neil Blomkamp film...
The biggest problem I see isn't that they'll rise up against us (AI doesn't have the biological drives that engender aggression*) anytime soon but that it won't be too many years before that bastard can be equipped with self-targetting weapons and used by rich countries to murder poor bastards in poor countries.
That's a far more chilling (and probable) result than Atlas spontaneously deciding uncap hockey-dude's skull.
Almost all the focus seems to be on the person poking it with a stick, but that doesn't actually seem to be the impressive part. That mostly just involves detecting that the box has moved and needs to be picked up again, and even standing up from a known prone position isn't the biggest challenge. As for doors, all it did was push them; it doesn't have hands so couldn't even try using a doorknob. Walking on an uneven, slippery surface and actually managing to recover from a slip without falling over is a far more impressive, and is the only thing I haven't seen a robot do before. Even humans frequently fail at that.
"The Legions of Robots are aligned against us."
"Legions?"
"Yes."
"How did they manage that one?"
"By taking over Car production."
"I thought that was those Foreign People."
"No. They have taken over Detroit and re-purposed it."
"How Many?"
"Bazillions."
"Nuke Detroit!!!"
"Already done Sir. No Effect."
"Damn!"
Ring Ring Ring Ring...
"What!?"
"Mr President?"
"Who are you!?"
"Mom."
"I do not need no Apple Pie."
Click
"You still there?"
"Yes Mr President."
"Nuke Everything."
"Sir! Yes! Sir!"
-
-
"Mom?"
"Yes Son."
"Why did we survive the Robot Wars?"
"Well Robert... Once upon a time....
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