Jul
11
the ability to create…
Filed Under robot |
Up to this point robots perform tasks. They’re quite helpful actually, in automotive plants moving massive pieces of metal into place precisely so another weld-bot can move in and place welds perfectly where they belong. Newbies to the robots world build kits that follow lines, follow instructions, move around avoiding objects, learning about their environment, getting slightly ’smarter’ (however you decide to define that word).
Being the nerd that I am, I get Robot magazine. Its tailored to enthusiasts from beginner to competitor. I mean lets face is, the robotics experts in the military and MIT probably don’t subscribe to this. Anyway, in the Spring 2008 (Issue 10) there is an article under Future Bytes about how the National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding research on robots that will design and build themselves.
Now that’s cool ! The concept being that a robot learn its environment, what resources it has available, and then adapt itself to that environment to better function.
Robots that Think and Build
Led by Daniela Rus (MIT), along with Eric Klavins (University of Washington), Hod Lipson (Cornell University), and Mark Yim (University of Pennsylvania) and titled, “Controlling the Autonomously Reconfiguring Factory” (grant #0735953).This project offers a radical approach to creating autonomous reconfigurability based on the team’s work with small robots. The Rus team proposes a new kind of robotic system for construction in which available materials and the final structure are not clearly known. The robots sense changes and variables, diagnose them, adapt and, together, successfully build themselves into a structure best suited for its environment. Such a system could be a tool not only for future construction challenges, but also for optimizing current construction practices.
(http://www.nsf.gov/eng/efri/fy07project_summaries.jsp)
Real quick - take that a bit further. You have a robot that can learn about its environment, and that can modify itself to better serve in that environment. What if its a hostile environment? Say its a graffiti washing robot, that through its learned knowledge of the various surfaces and paints used can augment itself and either obtain new chemicals, brushes and other implements to clean the surfaces. Pretty neat and makes sense. I’ll use a stereo-typical scenario that most areas where there is graffiti are high in crime, so the robot eventually comes across guns and violence, and quite possibly that is the only ’society’ is encounters. Eventually, it learns about guns and violence. Quite possibly, it may even get ‘mugged’ or bothered when cleaning the walls.
All this scrubber knows about people is that they’re violent, one person wins a confrontation, all parties involved may do their best to survive and sometimes don’t. They might use weapons to defend and harm the other person, gun, knife, club, pipe, rock, etc.
Maybe that night it decides to build a weapon? Then what happens? Now you have a weapon toting, wall scrubber that reacts to any human contact with violence. nice.
Having a robot enhance itself is still a cool concept, one I can’t wait to see how it turns out.