There have been huge advances in robot technology in the last few years. More and more "humanlike" robots are being developed in labs for a wide variety of medical, manufacturing, and commercial uses. These "smart" people lookalikes are being designed to help with household chores, as office workers, to perform tasks in space and in other dangerous environments, and to assist in schools and hospitals. Humanlike robots, in other words, are coming, and they may fundamentally change the way we live, even the way we view ourselves.
Will robots that look and act a lot like us be a threat to us? Or will they blend into our culture and eventually even be considered peers? Will they have feelings along with their artificial skin and metal bones? Will they act ethically? Are we taking sufficient care to make sure that they do?
These questions and many more are posed by the authors of this important book, which demands that we take steps now to insure that the technology doesn’t lead us into potentially dangerous scenarios with a "species" we have created. What laws will be needed to keep things under control? Should robots be allowed to store private and personal information in their circuits or be given freedom to act on their own? Do we want robots as teachers, police officers, doctors, and accountants, or do we want them to only do menial tasks? Will there be "renegade" robots that set out to harm people? Will robot soldiers increase the chance of war?
There are no easy answers to these questions. But the time to look for answers is now.
The Coming Robot Revolution Yoseph Bar-Cohen David Hanson Adi Marom, Graphic Artist l The Coming Robot Revolution Expectations and Fears About Emerging Intelligent, Humanlike Machines 13 Yoseph Bar-Cohen Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) California Institute of Technology Pasadena, CA
[email protected] David Hanson Hanson Robotics Richardson, TX
[email protected] ISBN 978-0-387-85348-2 e-ISBN 978-0-387-85349-9 DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-85349-9 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008942430 # Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC 2009 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer ScienceþBusiness Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper springer.com Preface Making a robot that looks and behaves like a human being has been the subject of many popular science fiction movies and books. Although the development of such a robot faces many challenges, the making of a virtual human has long been potentially possible. With recent advances in various key technologies related to hardware and software, the making of humanlike robots is increasingly becoming an engineering reality. Development of the required hardware that can perform humanlike functions in a lifelike manner has benefitted greatly from development in such technologies as biologically inspired materials, artificial intelligence, artificial vis