May 12 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Relationships Year: General Rating: 14 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
Mitsubishi’s latest entry into the world of mega-profits
includes “Wakamaru”, a child-shaped robot that can recognize and
talk with 10 different people. Priced at $14,300, this clever
creature has a vocabulary of 10,000 words, and can become companion
to seniors, playmate to children, or a loving and helpful devoted
family servant. 
Today, robots can make decisions about where to go and
what to do, and although, they cannot yet make feelings, they can
show them. Ignore or abuse a robot, and it becomes surly and
withdrawn. Shower it with love and attention, and it blushes and
makes happy smiles.
Now, developers say, robots can have feelings. U.S. Military’s
DARPA recently awarded a contract to
create a robotic system that can read manuals and explain them to
humans. Recognizing that humans become frustrated when taking
orders from robotic systems, researchers decided to program human
nature and nurturing traits into their creation.
These included human examples of early childhood memories, first
love during puberty, and intense stress situations of danger and
competition. The final robotic system exhibited more friendliness
and compassion, and evoked fewer hostile feelings. (cont.)
DARPA believes robots of the opposite
sex will also be necessary, as research shows small amounts of
casual flirting strengthens chemical bonds between human and robot
brains. This closeness is critical for long-term space flights or
military situations. Experts believe love programming will benefit
companion ‘bots too, as it improves their understanding of how
humans feel.
Officials at Honda, creator of the popular household robot
“Asimo”, believe that by 2030, robots could possess computing power
and memory equal to the human brain. Future ‘bots will learn to
mimic specific human behaviors, and will project an image we are
attracted to.
Author Ray Kurzweil, in his book, The Singularity is Near,
suggests we are approaching the age of “full-immersion
virtual-reality” with robots. Thanks to innovations in genetics,
nanotech and robotics; we will soon be able to exchange intimacy
with robots that equal our intelligence. These ‘bots will quickly
learn how to flesh out positive emotions that make us feel good,
and we will find this lure extremely hard to ignore.
Jason Nemeth, in his essay Should Robots Feel, believes
love-companion robots will be practical in the future and they
could easily fill the role of a loving partner, satisfying all our
intimate desires. Nemeth is not sure whether human/robot love would
experience higher success rate than love between two humans; but he
says advancing technologies will unlock the possibilities, and
human curiosity will demand that it become reality.
Kurzweil claims 2030s technologies will help us finally
“overcome our genetic heritage”. We will learn how our brains
operate and build computers that function similarly. “This union of
human and machine is the essence of the Singularity, an era in
which our intelligence becomes increasingly non-biological, and
trillions of times more powerful than it is today”.
As we approach this new era, we see robots becoming more like
us, and by adopting their powerful computing power, we are becoming
more like them. Where will this human-machine merge take us? The
answer may lie in what promises to be a truly, loving “magical
future”.
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