The rise and rise of robots and things

COMMENT
It was about 30 years ago I think when I saw footage of the very first robot thing which actually worked and was a true and valuable companion to the human beings around it.

It was a bomb disposal device ... on tracks and with metallic arms like a Dalek and which followed the transmitted commands of its humanbeing boss.

It could go into very dangerous landscapes and situations to defuse bad things, at no risk to its human counterparts.

Today there are walking ones.

They walk like machines of course but as the days go by they are getting closer and closer to re-creating human actions.

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There's a couple of robot-building crews in the US who have even made robotic animals that can walk, run, hop and climb stairs.

Fascinating to watch but I always get a little uneasy, especially when robots have been called, by some, as the potential saviour of the human race.

Because they will do the repetitive and physical tasks which need to be carried out.

On the automotive front they have stepped in to build cars which for the manufacturers has likely been a cost-cutting and constant construction blessing but for the human workforce who once welded and fitted the mechanical jigsaw pieces together it's not so good.

It hasn't been too good for some hotel front-of-house crews and pizzas whipper-uppers in some parts of the world lately either.

For robotic machines have stepped up, although at this stage more in the novelty sense I suspect rather than to change the whole hospitality landscape.

Though I suspect that in the long run, that is the aim.

Long run indeed, and while not completely opposed to technology and the like I did smile at a recent story about how a couple of pizza spots in the US shut down their robotic pizza makers and cookers.

And how a large hotel in Japan unplugged the robotic reception and booking staff and replaced them with things that had heads, legs and arms.

Too many errors had been occurring and while some guests may have found it fascinating to interact with machines when it came to getting the correct room and someone (or something) to shift the baggage time seemed to stand still.

Maybe my edginess concerning robots is a hangover from when I was a kid watching Dr Who.

Those Daleks creeped me out, although they did teach me how to spell "exterminate".

On the same day I read about the downfall of a couple of robotic pizza outlets I also read about another stage of this seemingly inevitable journey away from humanity.

Virtual humans.

Last week Samsung unveiled the results of their latest technology venture which they dubbed Neon.

They unveiled an artificial human which is computer generated onto a screen and which they say is not only realistic, but is capable of showing emotion and forming its own intelligence and memory.

Oh yeah, it sounds as human as a human as well.

One of the Neon drivers said the "synthetic humans" were a new style of life.

"There are millions of species on our planet and we hope to add one more," the Neon creating chap declared.

"Neons will be our friends, collaborators and companions, continually learning, evolving and forming memories from their interactions."

This was inevitable of course as Hollywood has been playing with computer generated stuff quite a bit recently.

They can take 30 years off a bloke like Robert de Niro and make him look young again.

There are companies creating synthetic "avatars" on screen for advertising and e-commerce and they are indistinguishable from a human being.

And in China one television broadcasting group has used a computer-generated "person" to read the news.

Yep, more jobs will get taken out by this frighteningly realistic "new kind of life."

But what I find more unsettling than that is the part where the Neon crew insisted they will become our friends and collaborators and companions.

That for me was the "uh oh" alarm, for if this does indeed evolves into a global new "species" on the planet, and they can be brought into our homes, then social interaction for so many people will dissolve.

It will almost become science fiction as great swathes of people are steered away from engaging with other people.

Steered toward a screen where they can share their thoughts, emotions, opinions and observations with their new CGI chum.

Then one day they will possess a superbly human robotic body and take over the world.

You see what watching Dr Who and the rise of the Daleks has done to me?

Roger Moroney is an award-winning journalist for Hawke's Bay Today and observer of the slightly off-centre.