Our Robotic Future Robots seem to be popping up in a lot of places, some of them are very unusual and are not places we would normally think would use robots. Take the robot Mindar for example. It is turning out there is a growing shortage of priests, monks etc. Buddhists have done something which many think is innovative, but others not so much. They have enlisted at least two robots to preach. A temple in Kyoto is now using the robot Mindar to get the message across. The robot is mostly made of aluminum and as it preaches its message in Japanese, its message is being shown in other languages on screens. The audience doesn’t seem to mind one bit that their teacher is a machine. The irony does not escape some people which is a high technology robot teaching people in a 400 year old building. When early research on human-robot interaction was studied, researchers were surprised to find humans would personify their experiences not only with robots but with computers. Some people began to call their computers by him or her. It was found when humans interacted with computers, they acted like they were dealing with other humans. If the computer had a female voice a human would tend to think of it as female and so forth. As robots became more human looking people who dealt with them tended to act more as if they were humans. Japan had opened a hotel which used robots. The check-in counter was run by a human looking male robot and the bell hops were all robots. Unfortunately, this enterprise didn’t work out well and the robots were eventually replaced with humans. I don’t know much more about that. One thing which seems to be true is the fact robots can make good aid workers in places like nursing homes. The residents seem to like dealing with them and think of them more or less as people. Robots also might be better suited to deal with people in these situations. They don’t get annoyed, they are always willing to do what is necessary, they don’t argue about their duties and they keep a pleasant attitude with the residents. Not all robots are in human form and as a matter of fact some are in forms you would not suspect. There is one robot made in South Korea which is in the form of a chair which can carry a human. One of the most important attributes of robots is the fact they can provide companionship in certain situations. Take the case of the elderly who live alone and have no one. A caring robot might be just what that person needs. Much as a dog can be a great companion, a robot in a situation like that might be a much better one. Loneliness is sometimes worse than any disease and any way we can help those affected with it, would be a boon for them. There has been a lot of talk lately about using robots to make rounds in hospitals instead of the doctor having to leave his office. The robots in question would travel to the hospital rooms and have a screen in their chest and camera and the doctor would appear on the screen to talk to the patients. The truth is with this setup there would be lot less hospital visits for doctors because they would be unnecessary. The billing would have to be worked out with the insurance companies. A video surveillance robot has hit the market. The idea is for this robot to protect a person’s home. The robot is named Spykee and hooks up to the internet. It watches the home, can hear and speak. It can also take photographs and make phone calls and is said to provide excellent protection against burglary. Sometimes security robots have a problem. Take the case of robots which patrol malls. A problem which seems to be prevalent is children crowding in on them preventing their patrol. Sometimes the children even run over to them and hit, kick and may try and bite them. There is not an easy solution to this problem. NASA has developed a robot to help astronauts with repairs and other things. The original robot was named Robonaut and now the newer version is Robonaut 2. It takes on jobs which are too dangerous for astronauts to do. It is a human shaped robot with great dexterity so it can tackle tricky and delicate jobs. The original Robonaut had no legs but Robonaut 2 has them. The idea was to create a robot which humans could work side by side with without getting hurt. It was also designed to be able to work outside a vehicle or space station if necessary so the astronauts would not have to space walk. This is not the only NASA robot. Valkyrie is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 300 pounds. The robot was developed to be used on Mars. It is hoped when we finally go to Mars Valkyrie will be with us or its advanced version. Will we get our own personal robot someday? That day is getting closer all the time. Today we are sort of limited to robot vacuum cleaners and devices which act like information devices with some other qualities, but that is about to change. Did you know one robot is so realistic it has been given citizenship in Saudi Arabia? The United Nations has given it the title of Innovation Champion. The robot is Sofia. “She” is completely capable of holding conversations with anyone. The robot is able to learn and has appeared on television in the United States. Sofia was interviewed by CNBC. To see the interview, you can copy and paste this address into your browser’s address area.
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