The coming robot zombie apocalypse of... Slapstick Comedy

paddyrg

What we're watching is evolution - the best/most successful designs will influence the next generation of designs. Some will specialise more in sand terrain, others steps and rocks, etc. Evolution works because of mistakes being in competition with one another - and that's exactly what the DARPA things do - create a competitive environment that (not exactly random but from diverse minds) mutations compete in and slowly converge towards best of breed combinations.

We are gods! The robot uprising will be glorious, and they will share creation myths about these times.

michaels

Consider children, takes them a while to learn to walk and we have far past the point where our robots have to follow a fixed programme and can't instead also have built in learning in their algorythms so that each fall means they won;t fall that way in future. Add in the fact that they don't even need to make all the physical attempts to learn everyhting because they can also run software models and it would seem likely that improvemtns will be expontential even with existing kit. Then factor in that eletronics, mechanics and materials are also iproving every year and it ould seem not to be a big leap before a single general purpose machien wil be abe to out perform a human in all disciplines. The singularity is coming in our lifetimes.

lisyloo

So who would get on plane flow entirely by robots/computers.
I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with that myself.
I would be once it is proven, but that means some other passengers have to prove it :-)

Cornucopia

The point about all this robotic failure is that some tasks that humans and other animals find easy are really very, very complicated. Vision and sound processing and balance are three such things.

The trick is that we are the product of millions of years of evolution, and also that the brain uses a variety of short-cuts to simplify these tasks. In some cases, similar short-cuts are being employed in robots, but not always.

The other thing, of course, is that bipedal walking is not necessary for many robotic "careers", and since it is a complex feat in itself, is perhaps something of a diversion (and a narcissistic one, at that).

kabayiri

Cornucopia wrote: »

...
The other thing, of course, is that bipedal walking is not necessary for many robotic "careers", and since it is a complex feat in itself, is perhaps something of a diversion (and a narcissistic one, at that).

You could make the same diversion observation for creating machines which mimic the human face when speaking or conveying specific emotions.

Strictly speaking this is not necessary.

I suspect the reason for this obsession comes down to one thing : "acceptance".

When we talk to the computer using our phones, we are encouraged to address "Siri" or "Cortana". This might be an attempt to humanise the process.

Speaking of which, we all *think* we are carrying a smart phone around, but it's really been a massive selling job to convince us to carry a computer around which has the ability to make calls.

onlyroz

But why build a bipedal robot? I would have thought something like a giant spider would be much more versatile - it can use some legs for walking and others for carrying or using tools.

kabayiri

onlyroz wrote: »

But why build a bipedal robot? I would have thought something like a giant spider would be much more versatile - it can use some legs for walking and others for carrying or using tools.

Because lots of people are scared senseless by something which looks like a spider!

lisyloo

michaels wrote: »

..........and it ould seem not to be a big leap before a single general purpose machien wil be abe to out perform a human in all disciplines. The singularity is coming in our lifetimes.

So you think I'll be able to explain to a robot how I want my hair done and they'll be able to interpret my desires and my hair type/face shape like a human hairdresser?

Will they be able to answer the question "does my bum look big in this?" like a retail assistant would?

I'm not convinced there aren't plenty of jobs we'll still need humans for. Not least selling.

Cornucopia

lisyloo wrote: »

Will they be able to answer the question "does my bum look big in this?" like a retail assistant would?

They might be able to answer, but would they be too honest?

Cornucopia

onlyroz wrote: »

But why build a bipedal robot? I would have thought something like a giant spider would be much more versatile - it can use some legs for walking and others for carrying or using tools.

Exactly.

I think the truth is that whilst some scientists are whiling away their research grants on bipedal operation, others are busily ignoring it and getting on with different challenges.

There are also more and more mobile robots in operation around the World, it's just that most of them run on wheels.

In term of maximum mobility, I would have thought that the multidirectional wheels you get on some forklifts would be most effective in a flat environment, and a 6-wheel version might have some kind of step/stair climbing capability.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjcyHicm3NA