From: Franklin Wayne Poley (culturex@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Mon May 22 2000 - 20:48:44 MDT
On Mon, 22 May 2000, Eugene Leitl wrote:
> I'm not expecting household-usable robot products before 2010.
Neither am I though I think the HomeMate robot Joe Engelberger is trying
to get $5 m. to build is one he could have built 20 years ago. So I would
look toward nonanthropomorphic automated villages and cities. "Robotized
Habitats" if you will.
Floor
> cleaners will mostl likely come first, will be just a box on wheels,
> and they will be considerably cheaper than a car.
Given that Honda's P2 and P3 can walk and climb stairs, why not program
them to use a vacuum cleaner?
> Franklin Wayne Poley writes:
> > Honda alone has spent $100 m. to develop its humanoid series so I think
>
> 100 megabucks is a drop in the sea when it comes to developing robust
> robotics.
I agree. Now what could be done with 100 billion $ or 100 trillion
$? These are the questions I am putting forward to the Vancouver
television group which says it wants to do an ed tv documentary on
"machine psychology". I want the top experts in the world to answer and I
think they will.
> > Japan is poised to put automobile-priced humanoid robots on the mass
> > market. How do you think this will change human society when we are
>
> Japan has pioneered some remarkably audacious and unremarkably failing
> projects in the past.
Hey...I remember the Alamo...or was it Pearl Harbour? Anyway, to use your
expression, below, So what?
> > interacting on a daily basis with a class of humanoid mechanical slaves?
> > It is going to happen soon.
>
> Yes, so what.
Oh I can think of all kinds of so whats. Like "robot robots" which is what
Pearson from BT expects to see happening in about a decade. Like the
transformation of society when it really is "The End of Work" (Rifkin's
title). And you know what? For those willing to use a little savvy (and I
don't mean just high tech people) I think the era of "The End of
Work" (total automation) has arrived. The choices are whether to go
"anthropomorphic" or "nonanthropmorphic" in planning totally automated new
communities. NOW.
FWP.
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Machine Psychology: http://www.atoma.f2s.com/atomareport.html (file #10)
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