What does the future hold for personal robots?

Artificial intelligence is one topic that is discussed more often nowadays. There are numerous institutes that are conducting ongoing research, creating new technologies and pushing the current projects even further. If you are an expert in this field, you are probably educated enough not to be afraid that the technology will take over the world as we know it and that the human kind will be destroyed or turned into slaves, like some Hollywood movies has been portraying the artificial intelligence for decades. A regular person is probably much less educated than an expert and he is also more manipulated by the movies. I think that there can be some truth to those sci-phi stories that robots will turn into killing machines. Certainly, any kind of technology in the wrong hands or used for the wrong purpose is dangerous, but we should not forget that so far people are always the ones that control and program these machines.

There will be time when the robots will be able to learn and make independent decisions like humans do. Actually it is already happening to some extend today. Dr. Cynthia Breazeal explores the use of robots as “social technology”. In her TED talk she showed a video of a robot name Leo which can react to humans and can learn from their expressions and their behavior. It was interesting to watch Leo’s reaction when he was introduced to a new object that he has never seen before. This example shows that there is a way to make robots act much like humans. They can learn by doing things over and over, they can master different tasks, and they can make decisions.

Social Robotics
Just imagine how social robotics can change our future. Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, Associate professor at MIT, is extensively working on different projects with robots that interact with humans. She and her team created a small robot that was used for video calls. Her team did a study with group of people and they found out that people reacted better to the “fully expressive mi-bot” compared to just a mobile screen. People showed more empathy and were more engaged in the conversation. This could change the way we communicate and the way we collaborate with our co-workers. Nowadays people live and work far away from their families and technology is the only way for them to stay in touch with their loved ones. This technology could offer more advanced telecommunication for most companies that have teams all over the US. These teams have to collaborate on complex issues and they often times use videoconferencing as the only option of communication, mi-bot could be the perfect replacement and it could boost the productivity of the team.

The new era
Social robotics opens another door for the human kind to explore the human to robot interaction. People naturally need a companion, it makes them happier when they interact with another human being. What if robots could partially play this role, they could help people that feel alone to feel connected again and not alone anymore. Robots could be used with mentally ill people and with kids that have mental disability like autism. The robots could be with the child 24/7, be their companion or they could be brought for a session to help the child learn different skills. Social or personal robots could be used for people that live in nursing homes. These personal robots would not completely substitute human on human interaction but instead it would help people stay social even in times when nobody is around.

Instead of being afraid of the future where personal robots are used for common tasks, which by the way is inevitable, we need to concentrate more on the usability of these machines, which could make our lives much easier, less stressful and happier.

Works cited:
http://www.ted.com/talks/cynthia_breazeal_the_rise_of_personal_robots?language=en#t-215184