Robots Taking Over the Future?

In this fast-paced society we live in, technology seems to be the number one fastest progression. Innovators are now working on robots that can almost exactly mimic the human body. This simply scares me. What does it mean? Do they plan on having these robots take over the labor field? Who will control these robots, a master robot? These questions I cannot answer, but if the answer to any of them is "yes", I fear humanity is in danger. If they have robots working on experiments about yeast metabolism (like Adam in the article "Robot Scientists 'can think for themselves'"), and he can finish the experiment, think about it and begin a new experiment then what is stopping them from making an entire lab full of "robo-scientists"? Thats just scary. I do not want our future to turn into a dismal, robot-infested world. The human race will be inferior to the robots, and robots with empathy will figure out ways to destroy us, because we may be seen as a threat. This is all pretty far fetched, but where else can our future lead to with robots that are exactly like humans, except smarter? I know something of this sort will occur, and let me tell you....I hope its not in my lifetime.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/robot-scientists-can-think-for-themselves-1661572.html

Robots that "eat"

We've all seen the movies, A.I., Terminator, I-Robot, where robots or cyborgs blend into society and wreak havoc. As we build smarter and smarter computers, this fantasy scenario becomes more realistic by the day. However, there has always been a limiting factor: energy source. In "The Matrix" humans blot out the sun by "burning the sky", therefore the robots can't use solar power to keep themselves running. Some robots just run on battery that end up running out after a while. In reality, our computer and robot of today are either tethered to a wall with an electrical cord, or run on a battery that runs out faster a laptop.

Recently some UK researchers have been working on developing a new sort of power source, one that we are all familiar with. They have developed a robot dubbed the Ecobot III that actually "eats" food and digests it and uses that energy converted from that to power itself. The way it works is by putting partially processed sewage into the robots digester. Bacteria within the digester breaks down the food and produces hydrogen electrons that are used in a fuel cells to create an electrical current that is then used to power the robot. Another interesting thing is that the robot can do is autonomously navigate to a nutrient rich feeding tube. Then once its done with the food, it excretes it in a similar way to how we do it (when were sick).

Currently there is a major downside to this technology. While it is working and an amazing technology with incredible potential, it is incredibly inefficient at the time. At the moment it is only able to produce 1% of usable energy for the robot. Eventually they will be able make the machine a bit more efficient and maybe allow for a robot to run exclusively on food that the robot ingests.

There is incredible potential behind this technology. This could be the new alternative energy source that houses run off of, or the new Mr. Fusion that allows us to power our time traveling De-Lorean when we don't have any lighting strikes to provide the 1.21 jigawatts to get it back to 1988. On a more sinister note, this could also allow for hyper intelligent autonomous robots to become more mobile. We have managed to create robots that learn and we have robots with incredibly realistic expressions. At this point we don't have to worry, but if all these technologies are perfected and combined, we may have a problem on our hands.

http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/uk-researchers-develop-autonomous-robot-that-eats-sewage/

http://www.energyharvestingjournal.com/articles/autonomous-robot-that-eats-sewage-00002529.asp?sessionid=1

Robot Suit

From Japanese cartoons to summer blockbusters robot suits have been the stuff of dreams for years yet now these dreams are coming to life. Suit’s are currently being developed to accomplish two things strengthen the elderly and strengthen soldiers. Although, the idea of having the elderly running around stronger than Stonecold Steve Austin but the goal is to have those weakened by age to rejoin the workforce with the augmented strength provided by a robotic suit. The suit halves all the work done by a farmer in half. The other robotic suit being worked on is the Raytheon Exo2 which is lovingly compared to the Ironman suit. This suit at this point is meant for loading and unloading supplies from vehicles. The other application for the suit is to be used to support soldier’s legs as the fight on the field. This will allow them to carry more and be able to move things faster.

Human’s wont change in our life time or even or children’s children’s lifetime. Yet our technology changes greatly generation-to-generation and even during a generation. My own great-grandfather someone I knew went across the planes in a covered wagon. Think about the vast changes that can happen and now that we can actually augment our abilities brings great hope for mankind.

" 'Iron Man' Actor Clark Gregg Spends a Day With the Raytheon Sarcos XOS 2 Exoskeleton ." Youtube. Web. 4 Nov 2010. .

Ridder, Knight. "Robot Suits to Aid Elderly Japanese Farmers with Toiling in the Fields." AARP International 21 Aug 2010: n. pag. Web. 4 Nov 2010. .