Robotic animals are awesome!

Years ago there was an MIT robotics lab that was making robotic insects. They were modelling their artificial intelligence routines on the basis of how they figured bugs do things. For instance, the individual legs all had their own tiny brains which basically were programmed to make the leg stand up. When the whole thing turned on, the legs stumbled briefly and then all stood up together. It's a marvelous idea, though I haven't seen it recently and so I wonder what ever became of it?

Now, there are robotic fish, sharks, worms, snakes, hummingbirds, bats, and I just saw an article about a bumblebee drone. Scientists find incredible inspiration by copying the animal world. I'm still waiting for my jetpack though--everything I read when I was young promised me jetpacks and flying cars by now! This makes me wonder why they haven't copied plants and rocks yet. There must be something useful in mountains and forests.

Cozmo

Efforts to create a synthetic pet are still pretty wacko though. I think we've all seen the Furby abominations, or the creepy toy dinosaurs that try to talk. There's just something deeply unsettling about a communicating machine trying to be cute and adorable. I don't mind robots, but those toys just make my skin crawl. There is a new bot called "Cozmo" that behaves very similarly to the fun robot "Wall-E" of the movie, and it's cute and fun and really expensive for what it is. Ah well. I do hope one day to have a little robot pet that doesn't wet the bed or chew my shoes.

- M

Cyborgs, Robots, & Automatons

Science fiction loves the idea of machines, since the genre is focused on technology for the most part. It's only natural that machines become human-like. Robots are easy, since they are machines typically imbued with some sort of artificial intelligence and so can do awful or great things with equal dispatch. Cyborgs are a bit different, since they are part machine and part human (think Robocop). White Automatons are made in the image of humans, and can be robot, cyborg, or remote controlled shells. Whatever they are, these robotic creations are loads of fun, because the author can easily play with the dangers of technologies as well as the human interactions it creates.

I think we all have a fear of new technologies, even if that fear is briefly instantaneous or long lasting. Mary Shelley wrote the famous "Frankenstein" in part as an exploration of the boundaries of science while also warning of our ethical challenges when doing so. That fear, however small, is at the center of many science fiction stories. It's where the conflict begins, and the story branches out from it. You hear the "extrapolation" tossed around when people discuss science fiction, and what it basically means is the author has guessed at future technologies by examining the current ones. By doing that, the audience is kept close to the story and doesn't have to believe too much goofy nonsense (such as Star Trek's infamous "technobabble.")

My own love of robots comes right from Star Wars. Yup, I adore R2D2 and C3PO. I think they are the best robots ever depicted, and I'm sure it's probably because they were my first love. It's also because they have easily defined characterizations. One is loyal and heroic to a fault, the other is a cowardly talker who nevertheless is faithful and loyal. And then there are the robots from the Terminator movies--terrifying machines of focused destruction.

I have watched the real life progress of robots, and it's both amusing and discouraging to witness. On one hand science has created impressive helpers (such as the machines that build cars) and have fallen short in making human-replicas. My opinion is we should try to replicate us, but make them as determined by their function. Science Fiction won't stop toying with robotics though, since it's so much fun (my first book was Science Fiction as well).

- M

Robots. Those goofy, charming, scary, and downright perplexing machines.

I love robots. Big, small, huge and fighting, or tiny and sneaky. I've always loved robots. The recent Transformers series of movies have highlighted robots in a big way, and I think it's all great. Also, Pacific Rim showed us huge robots fighting giant monsters! With the Avengers and now Avengers 2 we have Iron Man and an evil robot (Ultron). I'm smiling ear to ear about it all. I can't wait to see miniaturized robots flying around--perhaps a remake of Fantastic Voyage.

Iron Man, the villain Ultron, and Captain America

Today's robots mostly build stuff--assembly line robots, or automated cutters, or 3D printers--and they destroy things--demolition, military robots--and they explore distant worlds. Of course there are also medical robots, but they are mostly directed tools used by human operators. I think we are quickly arriving at the point where robots will do quite a lot in regular life. I doubt we'll ever have fully autonomous robots (able to think and learn for their own), mainly because life is simply too complex for a programmed mind to handle. Now, if we could create artificial intelligence on the scale of what we see in movies it would be possible, but I have my doubts. Anyway, scientists will continue pushing toward that point until time comes to an end.

What makes robots fun is how they can be human and yet not. As an example, think about Data from the Star Trek series. It's a common story tradition--using something not quite human to express human concerns, issues, and troubles--and robots are perfect for the job. The great thing is we aren't even all that worried when a robot is destroyed, because we can rebuild them! Great stuff. One of my favorite movies is The Iron Giant, which lets that happen in fact. It is my wish that robots see a long life of use in reality and stories.

- M