Future Shock

[Tinplate6]

There seems to be a lot of debate on the role robots will play in our future. Despite the incredible advances in robotics, these devices will, for the foreseeable future, be relegated to factories and warehouses, until the issue of long lasting power cells can be resolved. Even if robots could run for days instead of hours, there is the problem of autonomy and AI...this is another hurdle that must be jumped. Finally, after all of that has been worked out, the final barrier to robots in society is "acceptance". If an autonomous creation cannot fend for itself (3 laws of robotics?) they will face years of destruction as they try to make their way through our cities, from criminals that want the machines for money, or just to destroy them, because they are helpless.

 

I believe the next phase might best utilize them as household assistants, where they can interact with their "owners/employers" safely, within the confines of the person's home. With that having been said...how many of us Alphadromers would have a robot in their home, if they were affordable, and competently sentient?

 

Mind you, I'm not talking about programmable vacuum cleaners, or toys that mimic domestic pets. I'm also not including the highlighly developed 4-5 foot roving "toys" created as "household helpers" mostly by Japanese companies...although they have facial recognition, and are programmed to react to thousands of spoken commands, they would not pass the Turing Test, nor could they hold conversations about abstract subjects not already pre-programmed into their data base.

 

I, for one, have waited for robots since I was a child, and fear that this will not happen in my lifetime, but, if it were possible to have such a machine today, I would love to have one in our home.