As the prototype neared completion, with the finalization of the wiring, the group around it grew. The monumental task of flicking the power switch seemed to be within grasp. The netbook booted up, the wireless router started broadcasting, and the Ethernet cable was attached, one end to the portable computer, the other to the robot’s brain, its cRIO. As I found myself holding my breath, along with everyone else present, the room was so silent that the dying of a gnat could have sounded like thunder on a stormy night. Given that we, as a robotics team, had all spent endless hours on this, we were all anxious to see it run. The mouse cursor hovered over the virtual, vibrant green “Enable” button. The mouse clicked, the sound so relatively loud that I, along with the rest of the group, flinched. With that click of a mouse, IT came to life. We fled for cover as IT jerked to life, and moved sporadically out of control. Someone’s hand, during the confusion the owner was not apparent, slammed down on the emergency stop button, hopefully ending the uncontrollable, wild rage of the ...
Warrick, Patricia S. "Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots." The Cybernetic Imagination. N.p.: The MIT, 1980. 53-79. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 53-56. Print.
People love to read stories and watch movies of a science-fictional society that include robots with artificial intelligence. People are intrigued with the ability of the robots that seem to demonstrate what we humans consider morality. Eando Binder’s and Isaac Asimov’s short stories, as well as the 2004 Hollywood movie, all carry the title “I, Robot” and introduce possible futuristic worlds where robots are created and integrated within society. These stories challenge our perceptions about robots themselves, and could perhaps become an everyday commodity, or even valued assistants to human society. The different generations of “I, Robot” seem to set out the principles of robot behavior and showcase robots to people in both different and similar ways. How does the Robot view itself? More importantly, how does society judge these creations? The concepts discussed in these three stories covers almost 75 years of storytelling. Why has this theme stayed so relevant for so long?
Warwick, Kevin. "March of the Machines" The Department of Cybernetics. Internet. Microsoft Internet Explorer. 19 April 1999 Available FTP:http://www.cyber.reading.ac.uk/cybernetics/robots/
..., Robot is a collection of short stories written by the science fiction author himself, Isaac Asimov. He set out the principles of robot behavior that we know as the Three Laws of Robotics. “A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm� (choen, Lindsay. I,Robot) Contained in this whimsical collection are stories of robots gone mad, mind-reading robots, robots with a sense of humor, robot politicians, and robots that secretly run the world, all told with Asimov's trademark dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction. This collection has set the boundaries and set a certain criteria for other authors to follow and keep consistency in their stories involving robots and other forms of artificial intelligence.
Epstein, Richard. The case of the killer robot: stories about the professional, ethical and societal dimensions of computing. John Wiley and Sons. 1996.
...ics and we have only begun to see what they are. Precautions must be taken for the future, but the developments already made have produced great benefit and far outweigh any fearful expectations about the dangers of robotics.
As further advances in robotic testing and programming continue to emerge, then robots will be able to perform more difficult tasks. This article depicts the problem of consciousness in which robots may have knowledge yet lack feelings or emotion. Though we as humans are conscious, robots are not capable of feeling emotions this distinction allows us to distinguish ourselves from robots who sometimes resemble us.
Bar-Cohen, Y. (2009). The coming robot revolution expectations and fears about emerging intelligent, humanlike machines. Springer.
Terminator and Bladerunner, portrayed cyborgs or cybernetic organisms as creatures of destruction. Are they really as horrible as the movies make them out to be? They can be more useful than perceived; it is necessary to first perfect the technology involved in creating and operating them. In this paper, I will describe how these cyborgs work and how they are portrayed in the movies. Furthermore, I will explain the helpful ways that they are expected to perform in the future.
My heart was pounding and my hands were sweaty. I couldn’t tell if I was nervous or excited. I watched breathlessly as my team-mates were in the field setting up the robot. Switching it on, precisely positioning it, and checking all the motor-controlling wires. Everything had to be done perfectly and properly otherwise the robot would be completely incapable when the match started. Finally, they fled the field and the buzzer rang indicating the start of the first practice match. The robot took off flawlessly, driving itself through the fifteen second autonomous This was only a practice match at UC Davis’s Sacramento Regional in the FIRST Robotics program, but that moment marked the culmination of six weeks of hard work. About a little over
My biggest concern is that we cannot trust these robots. We all know how technology works these days. Oh wait, it hardly works. There is always something going wrong with technology; you can never rely on it. You want to write a research paper? Well good luck, the internet is most likely bound to be down. Isn’t that what always seems to happen? You never know with technology. Why would people think robots would be any different?...
Williams, Gray ?Robots and Automation.? The new book of popular science. Grolier Inc., 1996, 186-94.
With the development of technology in the world, people are faced with many things they never saw and knew before. In this modern life, technology has affected a lot of people’s lives in many levels. Robots are considered as important products of technology. Robots were introduced by a writer, Karel Čapek, from the Czech word, robota, meaning “forced labor” or “serf”. Čapek used this word in his play, R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) which opened in Prague in January, 1921, a play in which an Englishman named Rossum mass-produced automata. The automata, robots, are meant to do the world’s work and to make a better life for humans; but in the end they rebel, wipe out humanity, and start a new race of intelligent life for the robots themselves (Asimov, 1984). Robot does not have a specific definition itself, every dictionary has a slightly different definition. “Deciding if a machine is or is not a robot is like trying to decide if a certain shade of greenish blue is truly blue or not blue,” said Carlo Bertocchini, the owner of RobotBooks.com. “Some people will call it blue while others will vote not blue,” (Branwyn, 2004). This essay will limit the meaning of robot as what defined in the Merriam Webster Dictionary (2004), robot is a machine that looks and acts like a human being, an efficient but insensitive person, a device that automatically performs especially repetitive tasks, and something guided by automatic controls. As the technology grows more modern each day, scientists and programmers are creating and improving the function of robots. Nevertheless, many people are still debating should robots be developed more and should robots be used in everyday life. I disagree that the further development of robots should be remain...
In today's society, robots come in different types and qualities, and robots’ use was mainly in the laboratories and factories; however, that has drastically changed where their uses are changing at a high speed. In addition to that, they have spread throughout the world. The main function of robots is to replace the work that people used to do, or perform tasks that man cannot. A robot is a mechanical or virtual device that uses a computer program, or electronic circuitry, to carry out its functions. In modern science, robotics refers to the study of robots is robotics, which deals with designing, constructing, operating, and using robots and computer systems for controlling and processing information and providing feedbacks. However, as much as robots replace human labor, individuals or organizations can use them in dangerous environments that might be harmful and beneficial to humans. Therefore, to understand the logic behind the creation of robots, one should learn the pros and cons of robotics, in the current society. This is because people are using this technology without having a deep understanding of its effects. However, an objective evaluation of the use of robots, in the modern society, shows that they have a positive influence on human beings, but if the robots were overused, it could lead to a negative side. which shows why human beings should use robots wisely that will result an improvement to their societies and own lives. Robots have become interactive equipment whereby they have become part of human life. In this regard, people use them directly or indirectly to enhance the quality of their lives. However, Sharkey argues that there are ethical issues that arise because of using robots to enhance hu...
In case of emergencies, robots could reduce the percentage of fatal damages that occurs through these cases. In fact, humans’ lives are much valuable and precious rather than robots, in which societies could use robots to scarify through the dangerous situation for the sake of rescuing people. In addition, dangerous situations such as firefighting or earthquake require much effort, precision, and scarifying in the evacuation process. Furthermore, a beneficial feature that could help robots to coexist through the risky situations easily and preform the rescuing mission perfectly is that robots do not have feelings or emotions. According to Bruemmer (2006), robots do not have the ability to realize or notify any aspect that people do not programmed them to do. In other words, robots are merely machines that cannot feel or recognize what surrounding them without a sophisticated program done by humans. Therefore, as robots do not have the ability of feeling or knowing they could go through inhumane conditions for saving people. Moreover, robots have various capabilities that make them unique enable them to do heavy duties and bear more serio...