FUTURE OF ROBOTS

Robotics is the art and commerce of robots, their design, manufacture, application,
and practical use. Robots will soon be everywhere, in our home and at work. They
will change the way we live. This will raise many philosophical, social, and
political questions that will have to be answered. In science fiction, robots become
so intelligent that they decide to take over the world because humans are deemed
inferior. In real life, however, they might not choose to do that. Robots might
follow rules such as Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics, that will prevent them from
doing so. When the Singularity happens, robots will be indistinguishable from
human beings and some people may become Cyborgs: half man and half machine.

Given that in the next two decades robots will be capable of replacing humans in
most manufacturing and service jobs, economic development will be primarily
determined by the advancement of robotics. Given Japan's current strength in this
field, it may well become the economic leader in the next 20 years (part 1,part 2).
Marshall Brain also discusses the emergence of robotic economy [2].

Unfortunatly, due to Japan's shrinking population and poor government

intervention plans, they will be completly unable to capitalize on their (shrinking)
advantage in technology. India's vast advantage in the fields of technology, and
Germany's massive amounts of capital will make them far larger powers then
Japan.

Microsoft Robotics Studio

Microsoft is currently working to stabilize the fragmented robotics market with its
new software Microsoft Robotics Studio.

Minimal requirements
 To start a robotic breakthrough we need the following capabilities

object recognition capabilities of a 2-year-old child

language understanding of a 4-year-old

manual dexterity of a 6-year-old

That will allow robotisation of most manual jobs in the world and will be the
turning point in the robotic history. and for introducing the robots into social
context we would need

social understanding of an 8-year-old child

Humanoid robots

Lara is the first humanoid robot with artificial muscles (metal alloy strands that
instantly contract when heated by electric current)[4] [5] instead of electric motors (2006).

ASIMO Hubo Lara

Modular robots

Utility fog.
Scenario:Modular Robots.
M-Tran consists of standard blocks and is reconfigurable

Modular robots can be built from standard building blocks that can be combined in
different ways.

M-Tran - a snake-like modular robot that uses genetic algorithms to evolve

walking programs
Self replicating robots [6] [7] - modular robots that can produce copies of
themselves using existing blocks.

Swarmanoid [8] [9] is a project that uses 3 specialized classes of robots

(footbots, handbots and eyebots) to create an effective swarm. Such swarm
should be able, for example, to tidy a bedroom with each robot doing what it is
best at.

Police Robots
Being a police officer or a fireman is a dangerous job. They will be replaced by
robots. Robot police officers will be sent to the scene of the crime to stop it. The
police robots will know automatically who is committing the crime (City
Awareness Grid Electronic C.A.G.E). People are afraid of robots with guns. Guns
will be illegal in the future. Police robots will only have non-lethal weapons.
Educational toy robots
Sports Robots

RoboCup

Applications

Caterpillar plans to develop remote controlled machines and expects to

develop fully autonomous heavy robots by 2020. Some cranes already are
remote controlled.
It was demonstrated that a robot can perform a herding task.

Robots are increasingly used in manufacturing (since 1960s). In auto

industry they can amount for more than half of the "labor". There are even
"lights off" factories such as an IBM keyboard manufacturing factory in Texas
that are 100% automated.

Robots such as HOSPI are used as couriers in hospitals, etc. Other hospital
tasks performed by robots are receptionists, guides and porters (not to mention
surgical robots such as Da Vinci)

Robots can serve as waiters and cooks. Some fast-food restaurants do not
have humans take orders; instead customers use touch screens to order food.
 Robot waiter in Hong
Pharmacist robot Welding robot Kong restaurant

AIC, a cooking robot

Robotic librarian

Home Applications

Paero, a personal home

ASIMO, a walking Abio, a dog robot robot
humanoid robot
Medical Applications

Guide robot in a hospital

Ri-man medical assist
robot HAL-5 power assist
system

Da Vinci, a surgery robot

Transporation robots in a
hospital

Military application

As of 2006 there is a large robot development program in the US military. Ground

robots and UAVs are already used in Iraq. Robotic border defenses are being
developed in Korea, US and the EU.

It is likely that 20 or 30 years from now that the UN will make guns illegal in war
because of newly developed non lethal weapons that cans be used by robots
instead. (what's the point of having non lethal weapons in war??! that's not gonna
do anything people, get a life!!!) Most of war in the future will take place in urban
environments. The manufacturing of military robots that kill people will be
considered a war crime. Unfortunatly, the UN's decreasing power and credibility,
and their complete inability to outlaw WMDs so far will make this entirely
meaningless. Countries that are non-compliant, such as China, North Korea, and
several others scattered across the globe will continue undercover advanced
weaponry programs. Of course, in the name of its own defense, the United States
and the European Union will do the same, leading to a second arms race. It is also
likely that robots with non lethal weapons will be rented or purchased by a country
to keep the peace as law enforcers. Growing anarchist forces, particularly based in
Greece and Eastern Europe will oppose these new robots and vandalism and
citizen non-compliance will be a major issue.

The use of Robot Flys will revolutionize Urban combat.

Machine-gun equipped
robot developed by Big Dog
Samsung battle field extraction
assist robot (BEAR)

Technical challenges

Hands And Grips

Miniaturization
Timeline: Scenario:Robotics
Developments related to robotics from the NISTEP 2030 report:

2013-2014 agricultural robots

2013-2017 robots that care for the elderly

2017 medical robots performing low-invasive surgery

2017-2019 household robots

Unknown Nanorobot

US Department of Defense plans:

2015 to have one third of its fighting capacity provided by robots

2035 to have first completely autonomous robot soldiers on the
battlefield

Robotics in 2020

Robots will be commonplace: in home, factories, agriculture, building &

construction, undersea, space, mining, hospitals and streets for repair, construction,
maintenance, security, entertainment, companionship, care.

Purposes of these Robots:

Robotized space vehicles and facilities

 Anthropomorphic general-purpose robots with hands like humans used for
factory jobs - Intelligent robots for unmanned plants -Totally automated
factories will be commonplace.

Robots for guiding blind people

Robots for almost any job in home or hospital, including Robo-surgery.

Housework robots for cleaning, washing etc - Domestic robots will be small,
specialized and attractive, e.g. cuddly

Properties of these robots:

Autonomous, with environmental awareness sensors

Self diagnostic self repairing

Artificial brains with ten thousand organs