What do we have now part II

Hi, again!

Let's get back to the possibilities that we have now. Earlier I showed you robots that were resembling humans, also they were quite complicated. Let's look at some examples of robots you may have heard about.


Robotic mop:

Robotic vacuum cleaners:

Pets:

Ironing clothes:

Robotic lawn mowers:

Toy robots: 

Future?

Hi!

The robots already heavily influence our life. They help us in many aspects of life. From entertainment, through manufacturing up to medicine. Military is heavily dependent on robots. Automated vacuum cleaners clean our houses. We have automated fruit harvesting machines. We cannot live without robots now.

Let's look at the growth of number of robots in the world:

The growth is exponential. So we use more and more robots. The more we use them the more will be produced. The more will be produced the bigger the market will be. The bigger the market the bigger the competition on it. the bigger the competition the better the robots become. The better the robots become the more we would want them.


So how will robots influence our future?

In my opinion we will be able to focus on things that are important to us and let them help us with the stuff that is less relevant. Why not let the robot do the shopping, so you can have more time to spend with your family. Also think about comfort. Let's say you come back home from a late meeting. Let the auto pilot drive you safely home. No worries and no stress :)

I would love that someone would take care of the mess that I make during the process of thinking. When I set my mind on something I tend not to care about cleaning dishes, doing the laundry or shopping.

For me having an intelligent robot in my house would be a blessing.  I am certainly very keen on what will the future bring.

A bit of history

Hello there!

Let me quickly outline to you some of the history of robotics:

1920 - The word "robot" was introduced in Czech play called Rossum's Universal Robots.
1942 - Isaac Asimov formulates the Three Laws of Robotics.
1948 - Norbert Wiener formulates the principles of cybernetics.
1961 - The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them.
1963 - First palletizing robot
1973 - First industrial robot with six electromechanically driven axes
1975 - Programmable universal manipulation arm
1993 -  Dante an 8-legged walking robot developed at Carnegie Mellon University descends into Mt. Erebrus, Antarctica.
1999 - SONY releases the AIBO robotic pet.
2000 - Honda debuts new humanoid robot ASIMO.
2001 - In August, the FDA clears the CyberKnife to treat tumors anywhere in the body.
2004 - Cornell University revealed a robot capable of self-replication. A set of cubes capable of attaching and detaching - the first robot capable of building copies of itself.
2006 - Cornell University revealed its "Starfish" robot, a 4-legged robot capable of self modeling and learning to walk after having been damaged.

What do we have now?

Hello there!

You might be wondering what are the possibilities of robots today.

Take a look at this video and see for yourself:

So what do you think? Wouldn't such a robot be helpful?

Sure it would but doesn't feel very humane.

Now say hello to Asimo:

Amazed? I know I am.

It looks so alive. And as you can see it (or maybe it's already a "he") is capable of doing household chores.

So if we have such possibilities now what can the future bring?

Possibilities

Hi, there!

What do you think of, when someone asks you about robots? How they can help us?
Most of you will probably say that it will help the humanity in general etc. And it will. But what about you?
After all you are a human too, right? :) So what can human - robot interaction do for you?

Human-robot interaction can be a solution to various problems of human society. But it can also help you with your problems.

Just think about your home. You come back after 8 hours of work and what you see? Let's say your lovable pet had a lot of fun :) So you see plant's soil everywhere, litter here and there. And you have invited your friends over. Nightmare, isn't it?

Well, it doesn't have to be. Let's continue the story...

What if you had a household robot? It/he/she (whatever you prefer) could clean the mess for you while you get everything ready for the party. Or it could clean the mess and prepare the party while you get some rest. Or maybe it would stop your dog / cat / dragon from doing the mess in the first place by playing with him. Or maybe...

The possibilities are endless. So next time when you hear about robots try not to think about how they will work in factories or how well will they work in underwater uranium mines. Think about a friendly house member who will make your life easier. Think about:

Alexandra Kirsch introduction

Hi, I would like to introduce Alexandra Kirsch to all of you.




Alexandra is a lecturer on Technical University Munich in the Department of Computer Science.


She is the head of the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Group. Since April 2010 she is a Carl-von-Linde Junior Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study of TUM. This group is part of the cluster of excellence Cognition for Technical Systems. 





Mission Statement


The main goal of the Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Group is to make technical systems more comprehensible for users and to support people better in their everyday activities. To reach this goal we can learn a lot from psychology and neuroscience to get a better understanding of how humans solve problems and what they expect from interaction partners.

Research Topics

• plan-based action selection
• human-robot cooperation
• robot learning
• knowledge-based failure recognition and recovery
• human-like problem solving

You can find the list of Alexandra's publications here:

http://hcai.in.tum.de/members/kirsch/publications