The iPhones, iPods and iPads will soon, I think, have to share the social space with robots because robots are increasingly becoming part of most human endeavours and will thus be quite ubiquitous in the not too distant future. Robots were initially found mainly in the industrial sector. They were considered high-tech devices and were quite costly. Initial applications included spot welding in the motorcar industry, handling applications for nuclear plants, and in the space industry. Now robots can be found in hospitals, farms, the military, sports, underwater, disaster management and at home. There are robot musicians and dancers and even robotic artists that can do impressionist paintings. From art to engineering, medicine to entertainment and from war to rescue operations they are fulfilling important and often indispensable functions.
It is not inconceivable, in the near future, that at home, in addition to the car and fridge and air condition units, a robot might also be there. Living with robots is on the cards, like it or not. So what does man need to do then to be able to co-exist with robots and what do designers of robots need to take into account to make the man-robot partnership smooth and productive? In highly specialised and defined applications, the protocols are easier to define and hence coexistence and productive partnerships emerge almost naturally as the role of each is clear-cut. So, for instance, in exploring dangerous environments like volcanoes, the robots are guided from afar, by remote control, and are programmed to perform the tasks.
A similar situation obtains in military applications where drones are used for search-and-destroy missions. In every-day applications, the rules are not so clear-cut and hence a different approach to the control algorithms used in robots need to be adopted as robots represent a different type of technology to that presently found in homes. Cars, entertainment centres and other sophisticated electronic-based technologies are generally "dumb" in the sense that they cannot act on their own, though it should be pointed out that sensing and automation technologies are being introduced in them. Robots on the other hand will have the capacity to sense/perceive the environment, analyse the data, make decisions and carry them out.
In other words, they are intelligent autonomous devices which may or may not look like human beings. Humanoid robots clearly are the ones that capture the public's imagination. The approach taken by human beings to perform tasks, both simple and complex, is quite different from that used in conventional engineering technology, which is generally computationally intensive. To illustrate this, consider how a slips fielder takes a catch. He quickly estimates, based on rules of thumb derived from experience, the direction, height and speed of the ball and moves accordingly to have his hands in the space he thinks the ball will pass. No crunching of numbers; simple if-then rules are applied. An application of if-then rules in boundary catching would be as follows. If the ball is below shoulder level, then catch it with both palms facing upwards.
Humans use linguistic variables instead of arithmetic/algebraic ones. We have the capacity to use imprecise and/or incomplete data to make very precise and accurate movements. To do the same using conventional technology would require sophisticated algorithms and serious computing power that would be impractical and costly. In the home environment where quick decisions are required or in technical jargon "real time control," robots will have to use linguistic variable-based algorithms. Human beings use linguistic variables in our everyday decision-making and thus there would be congruence between humans and robots in this regard.
This would enable robots and humans to interact in a more synergistic manner as both would be sharing the same space and be performing joint tasks. It is interesting to note that the concepts being used to develop the body of mathematics of multi-state logic and linguistic variables have their origins in Buddhism and Hinduism. This is not surprising as the older Eastern civilisations, particularly Hinduism, had at their core a framework and process for accommodating diversity. This is in contrast to the rigid dichotomy ingrained in the culture of the Middle Eastern and Western Europe and which also pervades their approach to science. The rise of robots would add to the diversity of human existence. Adopting a harmonious approach will allow us to benefit from the partnership with autonomous intelligent machines.
• Prakash Persad is the director of Swaha Inc
