Robots of the future



By: Autumn Hill

Imagine yourself lost, deep in the forest on a cold autumn night, and nightfall is rapidly approaching. Too windy for search aircraft and too dark for ground teams to find you, this could be a life threatening situation. Fortunately for you, it is ten years into the future and hundreds of tiny intelligent robots will be combing the woods for you throughout the night. The future is growing closer and robots are advancing rapidly. Robotic engineers are designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and act more human, to make it  easier for us to warm up to a cold machine.

Realistic looking hair and skin with embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in their environment. For example, a robot that senses your touch on the shoulder could turn to greet you. Subtle actions by robots that typically go unnoticed between people help bring them to life and can also relay  non verbal communication.

Artificial eyes that move and blink. Slight chest movements that simulate breathing. Man made muscles to change facial expressions. These are all must have attributes for the socially acceptable robots of the future.

The brain behind the beauty will be the key to turning a realistic looking machine into a lifelike robot. Artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in successful human/robot interaction. “With robots, we are inventing a new species that is part material and part digital. The ambition of modern robotics goes beyond copying humans, beyond the effort to make walking, talking androids that are indistinguishable from people. Future robots will have superhuman abilities in both the physical and digital realms. They will be embedded in our physical spaces, with the ability to go where we cannot, and will have minds of their own, thanks to artificial intelligence. They will be fully connected to the digital world, far better at carrying out online tasks than we are,” says MIT scientist Illah Nourbashk.

Noel Sharkey, Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, University of Sheffield adds,“An exhilarating dash into the future of robotics… that will appeal to anyone with an interest in robots.” Robots have already been designed, but how far will they go in the future? Relying on robots in the future could become a reality very soon.