Robot Revolution

WATCH ABOVE: 16X9’s “Robot Revolution”

Imagine a future where a robot could tend to you in old age. A humanoid machine equal parts caregiver and companion who’d live in your home, prepare your meals, and even help you out of bed. At night, your robot gently holds your hand as you drift asleep; changing the temperature of its appendage to match your own.

It might seem like science fiction, but the race to produce robots for the consumer market is very real. And there’s more than one tech company believing in domestic robotics as the next phase in computing technology.

Eric Stevenson is among those believers and predicts a near future where robots assist the elderly. Eric works for Aldebaran, a France based robotics company. He compares the burgeoning robotics industry to where the PC market was in its infancy. “We are on the forefront of what I think will be the biggest events of the 21st century,” Eric predicts. “It will take time, it’s not going to be an overnight phenomenon, but the ability for robots to help us will be exponentially different than the way it is today.”

The difference between today’s computers and tomorrow robots will lie in their intelligence. A computer can crunch numbers, but a robot could extract and communicate a meaning behind them. “When the computers do the intelligent connection of the perception to action, that’s called robotics,” explains University of Ottawa engineering professor Emil Petriu.

But with new technology, comes new rules. Ian Kerr teaches a course on laws and robotics at the University of Ottawa. Ian notes that modern robotics is such a new thing, there are no laws yet as to what programmers can or can’t do. “It raises questions about what do we do when the rules in a particular world then conflict with what we think about the real world, right?” Kerr also expresses concern about the responsibility of humanoid machines. “All of a sudden we’re trusting machine systems to do what human beings used to do. And sometimes that’s problematic.”

Meanwhile, robotics companies continue to race their creations to market. Rodney Brooks is the creator of the “Roomba” vacuum and arguably the most prominent roboticist in North America. His latest creation is “Baxter,” a customizable robot designed to work in factories alongside humans. I wanted to build some sort of robot which would help ordinary factory workers become more productive,” Brooks told 16×9.

But robot ethicist Ian Kerr is still sceptical of a society where machine works alongside man. “What are the ethical pitfalls? What are some of the legal things we should be thinking about as well? And maybe in some of those cases, we’ll reflect and say, you know what? That application might be powerful, but we ought not to go there.”

For the full story watch 16×9 Friday at 8 PM – AT/MT, 9 PM – CT, 10 PM – ET/PT.