What Is a Robot?
The term you’ve heard thousands of times, but does robot wars count?
The word “Robot” definitely has a problem in journalism. Many journalists and writers use this word to invoke fear, thus sticking it in your title can generate lots of attention. This often means it’s used in the wrong context, confusing people about what the real definition is.
I’ll be the first to say, it’s definitely not a clear cut answer. Much like the definition of AI, it depends who you ask. However, there are certain attributes which an object must posses to be officially labelled a robot. And, I’m going to try and un-blur the lines.
When you hear “Robot”, you probably think of C3PO from Star Wars or one of the machines of mass destruction you see on Robot Wars. But remember, there’s also the Roomba (the vacuum cleaning robot) , autonomous drones and also self driving cars. Along with new age software products which many people are labelling robots, where is the line?
Criteria №1
It’s a physical thing. Apologies to all those calling chatbots “Robots”.
Engineers around the world agree a robot must have arms, wheels, actuators, legs, a body or something which makes it a real object you can touch.
Criteria №2
Many experts also work of a ‘Sense, Think, Act’ paradigm. This means a robot must have some way of sensing what is happening around it, a method of computing that information in some way, and finally, coming to a decision which is acted upon on the physical world.
Let’s break that down in a real world example. Think of a drone which you fly over your neighbours house to annoy them. Is this a robot? Well, it’s a physical thing and it acts. But it doesn’t sense or think. It only acts because a human operator tells it to.
Upgrade this to an autonomous drone which can fly around locations without human intervention, and you’ve got yourself a robot!
This is where it gets a bit messy
Judging by those criteria just set out, you’d be right to say: “So, does a Boeing 747 count?”
It’s physical, and with autopilot engaged, requires no human intervention, so surely it’s a robot? There’s no clear cut answer here, but my interpretation is that because it is controlled by a human for a lot of important tasks, take off and landing, it wouldn’t be classed as a robot.
Two types of intelligence
So, we can see that intelligence is a large criteria which needs to be fulfilled.
It’s pretty simple to program a robot to sense something, and deliver the same action every time. This would still be considered a robot as it is TRULY autonomous, however at a very low intelligence level.
A high level of intelligence will be when the robot can deliver outcomes which the human didn’t explicitly teach it to produce. This is when we start entering the realms of artificial intelligence, when more complex algorithms are developed and the robot starts seemingly offering solutions to issues which the human has not taught it about.
I like to group these robots in two different ways. Robots which act exactly how they’ve been taught. And, Robots which learn what is the best way to act.
But exactly HOW intelligent does it need to be?
Both of these types of intelligence are counted as robots in my opinion, but others may believe that only the higher intelligence level counts.
Why does it matter?
Thinking about what a robot really is has implications for how humanity deals with the unfolding robot-lution. Bill Gates has stated that robots should be taxed, however, what definition of “Robot” does he plan to tax?
In my opinion, it will be imperative to set out all possible definitions and set rules and regulations around each different level of robot.
But still, everyone has a different view… What’s yours?
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