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Annotated Bibliography

Could Robots Eventually Replace Humans?

Michele Belue Professor Malcolm Campbell English 1103 October 18, 2012

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Annotated Bibliography Freedman, David H. "The Rise Of The Robotic Work Force." Inc 34.8 (2012): 76. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 9 Oct. 2012. This article begins with the meeting of Scott Eckert, a former Dell executive from Massachusetts, and Rodney Brooks, the co-founder of the company iRobot, maker of the Roomba vacuuming robot, and the founder of his most recent company, Rethink Robots. Brooks had been working on a highly intelligent humanoid robot known as Baxter. This revolutionary robot was designed to be powerful, cheap, easy to use, and versatile. Baxter started out as a small arm that could shakily grab and lift a plastic disk, but in little time it evolved into something much more ambitious. Not only does Baxter resemble a human, it can think like one too. Instead of having a precise, angular range of motion, this robots arm is actually guided by a human to do a task, and then it does the task multiple times from different angles until it finds the most comfortable, efficient way. Baxter is made to work beside humans, being integrated with sensors to know when someone is near so it can freeze, and it can perform and learn any range of tasks in minutes. Selling at only $22,000, costing less than a minivan, companies can purchase this robot and have it pay for itself in months, according to Brooks. This source suggests that within years, robots similar to Baxter will outshine humans and replace millions of jobs in the U.S. alone. These advanced robots are requiring a lot of human contact since they are trained by having someone show them how to perform a task, rather than being programmed. This article is written by David H Freedman, author and contributing editor of Inc. Magazine, who has written on science, business, and technology for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Harvard Business Review, Science, and many more publications. I

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would say he is credible and this source is reliable. This piece is slightly biased because he poses questions from both sides of the ethical argument of robots; however he sways towards the production of robots. For example, he brings to attention the possibility of robots replacing millions of jobs of Americans, but then he adds that Brooks believes robots replacing mindless, repetitive jobs will boost cost savings and productivity to create growth and open up more interesting positions. The article is also filled with words with positive connotations describing Baxter, such as friendly, laid back, gamechanging, revolutionary, and helpful, which suggests the author is for the production of Baxter. Since I am exploring the possibility of robots replacing humans, this source is a great way to show that robots are already being created to do just that. In order for robots to replace humans, they must be integrated into society. And in order for that to happen, they must look and think as humans do. This entire article describes how Baxter possesses countless human qualities and has the ability to adapt to humans and work efficiently with them. Halpern, Mark. "Military Robots And The Redefinition Of "Autonomy." Vocabula Review 11.12 (2009): 1-12. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 17 Oct. 2012. This academic journal explores the issue of robots having autonomy, which basically means ones freedom or independence. Mark Halpern argues that people have conjured a misleading image of fictional robots from the rich literature that entails them, such as Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. However, the master of robotics would have to be Isaac Asimov, who wrote numerous futuristic science-fiction stories and novels about humanoid robots that had relationships with humans. Asimovs Three Laws of

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Robotics have stuck ever since he introduced them in a novel, and they are commonly associated with all robots. These laws apply to humanoid robots that are fully integrated in human life that have to make decisions, such as choosing between a short-term or long-term injury, responding to drunk people, children, or handicap, and how to solve a stream of complex problems. Many of Asimovs pieces of literature demonstrate robots taking over human jobs and outshining humans. At early ages, weve been taught that robots are normal things, and humans can work efficiently with them. Halpern poses the question, are we supposed to put our affairs in their hands and fully devote ourselves to them? Should we install robots in the military, and if so, should they have the right to take a human life? Halpern also states that computers will never be able to think on their own. If a robot is thought to be absolutely obedient and it acts up, a human will fix the bug until it does what he wants again. The same goes for memory; if a robot forgets something, a human will test the memory and replace the faulty module. Although computers are able to solve algorithmic problems faster than humans, they wont be able to think and originate ideas. Although this academic journal is biased, I believe it is vital to my inquiry. Mark Halpern poses many controversial points to the installment of robots in our society. This source is credible because it was reviewed and published by The Vocabula Review. Also, Halpern is a designer/programmer himself. He understands how computers work and their potential. In addition, Halpern touches on many things that Peter W. Singer of Brookings Institution has to say about robots. This academic journal will help me explore the negative effects of robots being integrated in our society. It also exposes military as another job force that robots could potentially

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take over. The origin and history of robots in past science-fiction literature and Asimovs works of literature that show man-robot relationships also instill how robots are already in the minds of people as being the norm. "Humanoid Robotics." Idaho National Library. U.S. Department of Energy. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. This website is the division of robotics and intelligence systems from the Idaho National Laboratory. On this website is a subdivision dedicated completely to humanoid robots. Unlike industrial robots, which are huge, bulky machines that have no rhyme or reason, humanoid robots are designed to look like humans. Humanoids are on the way of being in homes, battlefields, nuclear plants, government installations, and factories. They will be able to show emotion, make relationships, make decisions, and develop as they adapt to environments. Some humanoid robots can already autonomously perform complex tasks given through gesture and speech commands. Since their bodies will look extremely similar to humans, they can easily blend into society. Humanoid robotics projects focus capturing the physical, cognitive, and social dimensions of the human body and creating humanoids with those same features. However, humanoid robotics is not an attempt to recreate or replace humans. The goal is to make machines that act as new tools to human beings. We already have industrial robots that do tedious, repetitive labor; however, humanoids will be designed to act safely alongside humans. In order for that to occur, these robots must be integrated into the everyday lives of human beings. And in order for that to happen, robots must be able to communicate with, learn from, and adapt to humans. One of MITs projects was to create a robot to do just that, and it became known as Cog. This robot has a set of sensors and actuators to approximate the sensory and motion of the human body. Cog can also see, hear, and learn from humans.

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It can learn various behaviors, such as playing with a slinky or using a hammer, just by watching a human do the same task. This website is extremely reliable because its the official site of the Idaho National Laboratory. In addition, the site is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. Although the website is highly objective, it seems a bit biased to me as well. Although the material is filled with facts and statistics of past and recent robots, the effect and promise of future humanoid robotics seems too perfect. However, these people work with humanoids every day and know a lot more than I do, so I would say this source is extremely reliable. Its purposely written with easy terminology for people who dont know a lot about robots, and it definitely persuades the reader to want little humanoids walking around the world. This source is really helpful to my inquiry because, unlike my other articles, it comes from a third party so it does not include someones thoughts, feelings, or experiences with robots. It breaks down what exactly a humanoid robot is, how its made, why its made, and what we can look forward to in the future. It also mentions Rodney Brooks, who is a huge topic in one of my other sources. Young, Jeffrey R. "Programmed for Love." The Chronicle of Higher Education. 14 Jan. 2011. Web. 7 Oct. 2012. This article is written about an MIT ethnographer, Sherry Turkle, who warns of the dangers of advanced social technology. When Turkle was a professor at the Massachusetts Institution of Technology, she met a metallic robot named Cog, a humanoid robot with moving arms and a head. Cog was programmed to turn toward whomever was speaking to it, suggesting that it understood what was being said. Turkle

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found that she was developing an emotional attachment to Cog, wanting him to interact with her rather than with another co-worker. She realized human-looking machines were able to tap into deep human desires to see them as alive and a good companion. She also fears that robots being created to act as if they were alive could lead people to place machines in roles that only humans should occupy. Turkle feels robots will soon be intended to baby-sit children, replace workers in nursing homes, and serve as companions. MIT conducted an experiment that involved the interaction between school children and a robot named Kismet. Resembling a prop in a science-fiction film, Kismet has a metal face with eyes, eyebrows, and a mouth that expressed many emotions, such as surprise, delight, disgust, and more. One 9-year-old girl played with the robot, dressed it up as a doll, and tried to clip a microphone to it. Soon the robot was saying the girls name. A 12-year-old girl became sad and withdrew from the experiment to load up on snacks because she was convinced the robot clammed up because it didnt like her. This leads to question the ethics of sociable robots. Can a broken robot break a child? Turkle worries that people will get too attached to robots and lose the desire to interact with other humans. Several nursing homes gave out robot dolls to their residents. In many cases, the seniors bonded with the dolls and privately shared their life stories with them. People who consider themselves outcasts may be happier with a robot than having to force a connection with a human companion. After all, robots dont have emotional breakdowns, oversleep, or commit crimes. This article is reliable because its very objective; the whole thing is literally about Sherry Turkle and her own views on robots replacing humans. It is full of quotes by her and her experiences of interacting with robots. The purpose of this article is to persuade people

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to contemplate the idea of robots taking over human positions. Turkle fears people will be too accepting to the integration of robots in our society. In comparison to my other sources, this one is a polar opposite. It was extremely hard to even find an article that poised the cons of robotics. Turkle portrays social robots as demeaning, damaging, and destructive to our sense of humanity. Since Im exploring the evolution of robots in our world, I need to research BOTH sides of the spectrum. This article contributes greatly to the cons of robots being integrated in our world. I will use the personal experiences of Turkle with sociable robots and her notso-accepting views on the matter to explore the possible negative effects of robots being viewed as humans.