6 Features Sensor Readings Sensor Readings Features 7 computer was able to compute its way to passing the moon, the planets, the solar system and the indeed the Turing Test, conversing well enough with judges for universe in a way that computers and robots are not. The them to decide that it could pass for being human. This development of organic computers notwithstanding. happened some time last year. Isaac Asimov is a professor of biochemistry who wrote Since then, this week in fact, a robot is said to have a collection of nine science fiction short stories called “I, demonstrated a level of “self-awareness” that has Robot”. This work of fiction has proved to have an enduring apparently not been seen before. power. Despite being written in 1950, the “Three Laws of More stories like this will inevitably emerge, and add Robotics” articulated in the book are often quoted and fuel to the ongoing philosophical debate regarding robots. referred to in entertainment culture, often borrowed However, it could be argued that the real development as a central theme in films. Now, the three laws are that is going on, the actual progress, is in translation increasingly being discussed in wider society. capabilities – the computers, or the robots, are becoming The Three Laws of Robotics, as first listed in Asimov’s far more skilful at translating human language, and short story “Runaround”, are: calculating what responses would be most appropriate. l A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A matter of mind and consciousness l A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, As well as Turing, other figures from history may except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. be appropriate to mention. Namely, French l A robot must protect its own existence as long philosopher René Descartes. And, of course, as such protection does not conflict with the First Isaac Asimov. or Second Laws. Descartes is famous for the quote, “Cogito For the most part, Asimov clearly ergo sum”, or “I think, therefore I am”, as it’s differentiates robots from humans, mostly known in English. through the depiction of robots as mechanical, Many believe that Descartes meant that made of metal. Moreover, his three laws are thinking itself is a form of self-awareness, which blunt in the way they subjugate robots, making implies that if you think, it means that you are aware of them subservient to humans. yourself – you have self-consciousness, or more generally, However, in another short story called “Evidence”, set you are conscious. in a fictional world where there exist humanoid robots, However, substitute the word “think” for “compute” Asimov does deal with the concept of robots passing for or “calculate", and Descartes’ argument becomes less being human. convincing as a definition of consciousness, or self- “Evidence” centres on whether the main character awareness. is a humanoid robot or not. However, Asimov largely Many robots give a good impression of being conscious, does not directly deal with questions such as, “What is in that they are able to think or calculate. Many are consciousness?”, and “What is mind?” programmed to know their own name and communicate Perhaps that is the most fundamental idea in the book. as though they were aware of themselves, as though they None of the peripheral characters dwell on questions about were conscious. the central character’s level of consciousness, just whether However, while robots may be able to say, “I am a he is a robot or not. It would appear that the character robot”, or be self-referential in their conversation, the most had overcome that argument, as evidenced perhaps by his that they can do is analyse the input of language from a being married and running for political office. source – a user, such as a human – and then calculate the But in the world of “Evidence”, robots are not allowed most appropriate response. They merely compute within to hold political office no matter how humanoid or the parameters defined by the programmer. “conscious” they appear to be. This is what provides the Having said that, the cloud is bringing unprecedented story with its central conflict. computing power to robots like Pepper, which its makers Further evidence of just how prescient Asimov’s stories I compute, therefore I am say is able to understand emotions and language. It’s were can be be found in the real world of today, where quite possible that Pepper and its like will give responses there are currently many who are arguing for laws to that will appear to have been spontaneously created control robots and artificial intelligence. Conscious robots ost people would probably agree that robots will Turing was a pioneer of his day, playing an important from something beyond the parameters defined by the Beyond the three laws of robotics The Turing Test one day achieve a level of computational power that role in World War II, when computational machines were programmers – from nothing. will enable them to pass for humans. But when built using mechanical gears and vacuum tubes, and used But logic would dictate that that is not possible. Upon In a paper calling for the introduction of legislation to deal is a well-known M that happens, as some say it already has, would it be a to crack coded messages by calculating all of the possible investigation, it would be possible to find the lines of with robots and artificial intelligence, Ryan Calo, assistant way to check sign that they are on the way to becoming conscious, or meanings of those messages. code that led to that human-like output, an output that professor in the School of Law at University of Washington, if a computer sentient, beings? Or would it simply be a sign of their ever- It would have taken human beings centuries of would imply, inaccurately, that the robot or computer writes: “Technology has not stood still. The same private has achieved a increasing ability to calculate more accurately? dedicated calculation to do what computers did, even has a mind of its own. It does not, it is a machine – that institutions that developed the Internet, from the armed certain level of While it is relatively easy to test an industrial robot for back in the 1940s. And computers have become far more is the general view. forces to search engines, have initiated a significant shift equivalence with physical accuracy in its operations, for which there is an capable since then. Moreover, they are increasingly being Human beings are organic, connected to the Earth, the toward robotics and artificial intelligence. human beings, but internationally recognised standard in the form of ISO 9283, networked together to create gargantuan machines with “Courts that struggled for the proper metaphor to apply can any test truly tests to evaluate robots and computers for their level of colossal computing power. to the internet will struggle anew with robotics.” Automation is a core driver for every reveal what it is to “human-like capabilities” are somewhat more ambiguous. “Meanings” is probably the wrong word to use, as the He adds that “the widespread distribution of robotics be human? The Turing Test is probably the most well known word meanings implies much more than mere translation, company. From the point of view of the in society will, like the internet, create deep social, method of evaluating if a computer’s intelligence which is what the code-breaking machines essentially [end user], things seem simple. But cultural, economic, and of course legal tensions”. Calo has is indistinguishable from that of a human, although did. It was up to the humans to look at the computer- “ previously called for a federal robotics commission. controversial. The test was articulated in 1950 by Alan generated translations and decide which ones made most in the background a huge amount of “Robotics combines, for the first time, the promiscuity of Turing, a British computer scientist. sense, which ones had the most relevant meanings, and things have to happen, and that is only data with the capacity to do physical harm. Robotic systems Some may say that the Turing Test is too simplistic, then how to respond. possible through automation” accomplish tasks in ways that cannot be anticipated in crude even, but the idea of such a test has captured Translation is also what modern computers do when advance, and robots increasingly blur the line between the imagination ever since computers were first being they communicate with humans, albeit using far more Ivano Rondelli, NTT Communications person and instrument.” developed, from the early 1900s onwards. computational power. So much power that at least one Calo also makes the distinction between robots and [email protected] www.roboticsandautomationnews.com www.roboticsandautomationnews.com [email protected] 8 News Sensor Readings Sensor Readings Advertise 9 “It is a purely collective phenomenon that emerges from the interrelation, via synapses, of millions and millions of neurons, and the wiring architecture is the network. This architecture is far from random, and the structure that Advertise in Sensor Readings emerges there is unexpectedly similar to the architecture emerging in other complex systems, such as for instance, social networks.” The weekly news magazine for robotics It’s still a bunch of machines. No matter how accurate SENSOR and automation industry Starter Brand Builder Corporate First issue at conducting conversations or generally interacting in READINGS 17 July 2015 Rockwell CEO calls for youth human-like ways they become, their behaviour remains China’s robot revolution ‘Manufacturing needs to teach The world’s most populous nation and reach younger students’ within the parameters set by humans.