The March issue of Spanish "Fun" published an article entitled "100 Years of Robots", the author is Vicente Fernández de Bobadilla. The article stated that robots will continue to coexist with us, and it is very likely Not just in the next 100 years. The full text is excerpted as follows:
The word "robot" has been around for 100 years. In this century, this machine has changed from science fiction to an indispensable tool in the fields of manufacturing, space exploration and medical treatment. Let's review the history of robots and look forward to its future marked by the advancement of artificial intelligence.
According to statistics from the International Federation of Robotics, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, there are currently about 3.5 million robots living with us humans in the world, and all signs show that the number of robots will soon increase exponentially.
Most of these robots work on the assembly line, some do housework for us at home, some fly in the sky, some are responsible for finding bombs, and some are providing increasingly important help in the hospital. But there are very few robots that look like humans, and none can think for themselves.
How many robots are there in Spain? This number is unknown. There are 890 companies around the world dedicated to bringing robots to new areas and developing new uses for them, of which more than 60 are Spanish companies. Don’t be surprised, when it comes to the country’s robotization, Spain is ranked 11th in the world.
was born a hundred years
2021 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of the word "robot". To explain, the "robot" here does not refer to robots in the modern sense, because in ancient and pre-modern periods, there were many automatic machines made in the shape of animals or humans. But in 1921, Czech writer Karel Capek first proposed the term "robot" to define these machines in his sci-fi drama "Russium Universal Robot". Capek explained that the word "robot" was inspired by the Czech word "robota", which means "slave". In fact, the machines manufactured by Russum in the play are also designed to help humans with heavy and boring work.And like all slaves in history, they finally rose up against their masters.
In the next 100 years, robots are no longer a science fiction. But in the era of Capek, machinery and industrial production are booming, and each author’s imagination of robots caters to their era. Since these machines only existed in science fiction rather than reality at the time, it was generally believed that robots should look the same as us, but they were worried that such copies would infringe upon humans.
Carlos Balaguer, a professor at the Robotics Laboratory of Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain, explained to the reporter of "Fun" that all robotics researchers dream of one day having robots with companionship and collaboration functions, dreaming that they can help We...but this "dream robot" still has many problems to be solved in terms of design and actions. Because the human body is the most perfect mechanism designed and formed after thousands of years of evolution, the movements that we do without thinking and easily are still technically extremely difficult to replicate. Our walking movement is very complicated, and it takes a year for babies to learn; the seemingly simple action of picking up a cup involves distance perception, content recognition, and direction guidance. How to move, manipulate, and perceive is a very complicated process and has not yet been resolved.
Into the alien
But this does not mean that there are no robots that can do this kind of thing, or that robots cannot be used in practice. All of this has evolved gradually, and it has been like this from the beginning.
In the 1960s, George Divor and Joseph Engelberg established Unimessen in the United States. The company developed a robotic arm, regarded as the first robot in modern history. . Rodney Brooks, former director of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, explained that the 2-ton machine is “a huge and heavy arm that can repeat a series of movements and transfer from one place to another. To another place. It can open a claw, grab an object and put it in another place, or open or stop a welding machine tied to its hand",Most importantly, it can repeat these movements indefinitely. But at first its inventor did not think of calling it a "robot". Its commercial name is "Unimeszin", which is defined as "programmed commodity transfer".
Obviously, Unimesson’s best destination is the factory assembly line, which performs hundreds of repetitive actions in a working day. But getting support is not easy. Divor and Engelberg visited 46 companies to seek financing. Later, they thought of naming their inventions with "robots" that are very popular in movies and TV, and finally opened the door to business opportunities.
So in 1961, General Motors of the United States purchased Unimessen and let this robot be responsible for assembling parts at the automobile production plant in New Jersey. Soon, two other US auto manufacturing giants, , Chrysler Automobiles Co., and Ford Motor Co., followed GM's footsteps. The Unimessen company has developed other robots for parts assembly, painting, and adhesive fixing. It was also from this time that a problem that always accompanies robots and general technology began to appear, that is, workers and unions who saw their jobs replaced by robots launched protests.
However, the trend of mechanization of factory assembly lines is already unstoppable. Modern factories and their assembly lines have become the first areas where robots enter. In the following years, lighter and more professional robot models appeared. The Japanese rushed to catch up. In 1969, Hitachi invented the world's first vision-based fully automatic intelligent robot, which can assemble objects according to the floor plan. The first robotics association-Japan Robotics Association was also established in 1971. Two years later, robotic arms began to be equipped with computer-controlled sensors, allowing them to calculate touch and pressure when installing small-volume accessories. Hitachi has also developed an automatic bolting robot for the concrete pile industry. This is the first industrial robot equipped with a dynamic vision sensor . At this time, the robotic arm has been equipped with joint connections, which expands its mobility. In 1982, the United States International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) developed the world's first robot programming language AML.
The robot is advancing, even entering other planets. In 1976, NASA’s Corsair probe, which landed on the surface of Mars, installed a robotic arm.Used to collect samples of the surface of Mars; in 1981, the US "Columbia" space shuttle also carried a robotic arm during its second flight. These are impressive advancements, but they are rarely understood by the general public. After entering the new millennium, biped robots have become popular. For example, the humanoid robot "Asimo" developed by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. in 2000 has other skills such as walking, dancing, and shaking hands.
Challenge humans
Humanoid robots may be more able to show the public the progress of robots. For example, some robots have mastered the complicated process of single-leg independence. But we are becoming more and more aware that humanoid robots are no longer the inevitable goal of robot design as people thought at the beginning. Even in sci-fi works, the appearance of robots has become bizarre; in the real world, the design of robots is moving away from human characteristics.
As Alex Salvador, the managing director of the Spanish Association of Machines and Automation, said, when we design robots from scratch, we cannot repeat the shortcomings of human beings. A 3D camera is installed on the paw, so that the function of the paw can be greatly enhanced. At the same time, we have to forget the idea of letting the robot walk like a human, but install the robot on a mobile tool, install it on the car, and equip it with artificial eyes so that it can walk around in the factory with flexibility. Effective again. Robots can be equipped with more efficient bodies, organizational structures and processes. Current research is working towards this aspect, such as robots with three hands and eyes on the back. From a biological point of view, it is difficult for humans to carry out this transformation, but robots can achieve it.
Freight robots that challenge human design have been around for many years. In 2005, Boston Dynamics launched the " big dog " robot, which has four legs and can move on any terrain. The "Big Dog" was originally planned to be used in military operations. It can identify obstacles with the help of sensors and carry cargo weighing 150 kilograms at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour. Although it has never been put into use, it helped the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency carry out project research and create a lighter and revolutionary robot.For example, the hexapod robot RHex, and the Spot robot, which is smaller, more powerful, and guided by artificial intelligence.
Self-learning
But the most famous robot is the well-known sweeping robot "Lumba". This robot was developed by the American Intelligent Robot Company in 2002 and opened the door to the development of commercial robots engaged in housework activities. .
American Intelligent Robot Corporation is a robotics product and technology professional R&D company, which has received technology transfer and investment from the world-renowned MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. The company invented various military, police, rescue, and detection robots, which are light and practical, and are used by the military, police, and rescue units in various situations. In the future, the functions of robots will go far beyond sweeping and dust removal. They will have technical functions to meet economic and social needs.
automatic learning skills mainly seek to enable machines to have learning capabilities. El Salvador believes that this will be the core element of future robots. There is also the 5G network, which is regarded as one of the largest accelerators to promote the development of global robots in the short to medium term. The speed of fast connection has been greatly improved, making some current novel products may become daily necessities in the future, such as the use of robots in hospitals for cardiovascular surgery.
From an economic point of view, the market potential of household robots is huge and will promote the development of the robot industry in the next few years. Because the two main robotic service areas, such as aerospace and automation, are very sensitive in technology. Perhaps the most important area of development is collaborative robots, that is, robots that can cooperate with people in factories and production centers and act as assistants but will not replace humans.
robots will continue to coexist with us, and it is likely not only in the next 100 years.
On September 10, 2020, at the SoftBank robot company in Paris, France, the robot Pepper demonstrated the function of detecting whether people are wearing masks correctly. The SoftBank robot Pepper scans human faces with its own camera to detect whether the other party is wearing a mask.And give polite reminders and guidance. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Aurelian Morrisal)
Source: Reference News Network
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