ASIMO
While at Disneyland, we went into Innoventions for . . . not enough time. I felt like I barely got to look around. Innoventions is what they've done with that old, round building. It has an outer ring that rotates at 1 mph that brings you into the building, and inside are all kinds of exhibits and interactives in terms of science and technology.
The biggest thing we got to do while there was see a demonstration of ASIMO, Honda's humanoid robot which conquers the problem of bipedal locomotion. Walking is not nearly as easy as it seems--they've been working on it for 20-odd years. ASIMO is about 4' high--a height they determined was appropriate for human assistance, including or especially assistance of people with physical disabilities. It can recognize faces based on images it collects, spontaneously remind you to do things, and climb up and down stairs. And dance.
It has the voice of a child. This is . . . oddly creepy. It makes sense, given the height of the robot. But everyone I was with had the same reaction: It was just creepy. It should have been a woman's voice. We wanted it to be a woman's voice. There was this odd sense of "it's trying to be like our children." And we're the pro-technology crowd, mind you.
The way it could learn to recognize faces and greet people, and make spontaneous reminders, was impressive to me. Not more impressive than climbing stairs, but more disconcerting. It made me start thinking of terms like "limited artificial intelligence." Someone who answered my question about artificial intelligence summarized: "If it seems intelligent, then it probably is." If not intelligent, then . . . significantly autonomous.
The lead-up to the demonstration was a brief video on the history of robots, citing Leonardo Da Vinci's moving suit of armor as the first, and Mr. Lincoln as an early example of Disney's involvement with robots. Then is when I realized that we draw a line between "robots" and "animatronics" in common parlance. AIBO is a robotic dog. That thing on the assembly line is a robotic arm. But we call none of these things "robots." After talking with several other people, I've decided it's not just me: When we say "robots," we generally mean "androids."
I spent half the demonstration marveling with the rest of the crowd, and half of it thinking about the level of disconcertion and creepiness. I was reminded of the 1950s movies about people's first encounters with robots. And that's when I realized that we've had fifty or sixty years to get used to the idea of robots. Can you imagine what it would be like to see a robot for the first time with no idea what it is? This machine that looks like us, walks like us, and sounds like a human child? There's a level of threat there that's entirely subconscious and was, for me, completely unavoidable. This did not meet my control needs at all, but I couldn't seem to turn it off.
I heard that it's advised that until androids can look exactly like humans, that they look different enough that you can't mistake them for anything else but robots. Because of that psychological thing going on with regards to threat-level. I hadn't agreed with it . . . until I saw one in person. Now, I think I see the point.
So . . . ASIMO is very, very cool. The way the hip joints work is amazing. The technology is incredible. And Journey is . . .
. . . very, very disconcerted.
The biggest thing we got to do while there was see a demonstration of ASIMO, Honda's humanoid robot which conquers the problem of bipedal locomotion. Walking is not nearly as easy as it seems--they've been working on it for 20-odd years. ASIMO is about 4' high--a height they determined was appropriate for human assistance, including or especially assistance of people with physical disabilities. It can recognize faces based on images it collects, spontaneously remind you to do things, and climb up and down stairs. And dance.
It has the voice of a child. This is . . . oddly creepy. It makes sense, given the height of the robot. But everyone I was with had the same reaction: It was just creepy. It should have been a woman's voice. We wanted it to be a woman's voice. There was this odd sense of "it's trying to be like our children." And we're the pro-technology crowd, mind you.
The way it could learn to recognize faces and greet people, and make spontaneous reminders, was impressive to me. Not more impressive than climbing stairs, but more disconcerting. It made me start thinking of terms like "limited artificial intelligence." Someone who answered my question about artificial intelligence summarized: "If it seems intelligent, then it probably is." If not intelligent, then . . . significantly autonomous.
The lead-up to the demonstration was a brief video on the history of robots, citing Leonardo Da Vinci's moving suit of armor as the first, and Mr. Lincoln as an early example of Disney's involvement with robots. Then is when I realized that we draw a line between "robots" and "animatronics" in common parlance. AIBO is a robotic dog. That thing on the assembly line is a robotic arm. But we call none of these things "robots." After talking with several other people, I've decided it's not just me: When we say "robots," we generally mean "androids."
I spent half the demonstration marveling with the rest of the crowd, and half of it thinking about the level of disconcertion and creepiness. I was reminded of the 1950s movies about people's first encounters with robots. And that's when I realized that we've had fifty or sixty years to get used to the idea of robots. Can you imagine what it would be like to see a robot for the first time with no idea what it is? This machine that looks like us, walks like us, and sounds like a human child? There's a level of threat there that's entirely subconscious and was, for me, completely unavoidable. This did not meet my control needs at all, but I couldn't seem to turn it off.
I heard that it's advised that until androids can look exactly like humans, that they look different enough that you can't mistake them for anything else but robots. Because of that psychological thing going on with regards to threat-level. I hadn't agreed with it . . . until I saw one in person. Now, I think I see the point.
So . . . ASIMO is very, very cool. The way the hip joints work is amazing. The technology is incredible. And Journey is . . .
. . . very, very disconcerted.
posted by Journey | 7:23 PM
1 Comments:
Fascinating. I wonder if the four foot height isn't also designed to avoid intimidating kids, or falling down and smashing them.
Personally, I've never met a robot I didn't like. Nor one I did like. I'm guessing that I would be most disturbed by the android that appears most human.
On the Disneyland topic, I just ran across this archive of discontinued park attractions: http://www.yesterland.com
Sleep well,
--durangodave
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