If you’ve heard about Artificial intelligence (also known as “robot technology”) and robots, you might be imagining robots replacing humans in all walks of life. This isn’t quite the future, but it’s a reality now, with self-driving cars and trucks, androids that can do menial jobs around the house, and full-size robots that can walk people through the grocery store check out line. In movies such as Iron Man and James Bond, and actually in the future I believe it will happen, there will be A.I. robots which can not only perform menial tasks, but will make decisions about everything from the weather to the content of your next meal.
What exactly is an A.I. robot? A computer generated robot, a program created by programmers (not necessarily computer engineers) to perform repetitive, boring, monotonous tasks.
A robot is essentially a machine; especially one programmable by a personal computer operating on a standard operating system. A computer can program a robot to perform a certain task by sending instructions through its computer network to a specific unit on a manufacturing assembly line. A robot can also be guided, perhaps by an external controller, or programmed internally for a particular task. A.I. robots are intelligent but not able to think or reason like humans.
But how will these new artificially intelligent robotic machines to be able to compete with each other? Well, as usual, computers have become better at patterning, and algorithms, which allow them to quickly and efficiently find the best solutions to problems. Computer vision has also been applied to robotics and artificially intelligent robotic systems, which allows them to see images or video from a distance, and in more detailed detail than before. In other words, robots with computer vision have actual cameras, and they can see in the dark, as well as navigate through terrain and change direction of movement without human supervision. Robotic cars that drive along highways, ships that roam the ocean, and even aircraft that take off and land on land and in the air now have computers inside them that help them perform their tasks.
So, what does all this mean for robotic engineers and technicians? In the future, artificially intelligent robots may perform similar tasks as human workers, but they won’t be as good at doing it, because they’ll be depending on software instead of people. However, humans will still have a place in the manufacturing process, because it will be entirely possible that some robots will become so advanced that they can do everything a human worker could do.
Will robots ever be capable of doing all the things humans can do? It’s probably still a ways off, but in the mean time, robots are getting better, smarter, and more creative. They are becoming better able to anticipate the needs of the humans who work alongside them. For example, a robot could read a manual and fully grasp its meaning, but it still wouldn’t know how to do anything beyond that. However, as new technology emerges that makes it possible for robots to do new things, they may soon be able to do things that would completely surprise even the smartest human being.
Will robots replace humans completely? That’s a question that scientists are beginning to answer, but as with any type of technology, there is no doubt about it. In fact, if current trends continue robots will likely do much better than humans overall, which will leave most people confused. However, if robots can do as good as humans do, then they will probably make life much easier on most humans as well, and that is something we can all live with.
The future of artificially intelligent robots is still very much a mystery. Researchers are hard at work developing robots that are friendly and interactive. One day, robots may even be able to understand a child’s feelings and desires, and be able to respond accordingly. However, for now robots will always be programmed to do one task – that of operating a factory. They may also be programmed to help humans, in an effort to prevent crime. As long as humans continue to build robots that operate independently they may never have the same impact as the original, and we may never have to worry about artificial intelligence taking over.
