The uniqueness of a person lies in our ability to be aware of ourselves and represent actions in various situations. We can also learn from mistakes and reflect on what is right and what is wrong. Today robots are not capable of this. However, things may change in the future. Recently, American researchers have created a robotic arm that is aware of itself and is able to quickly adapt to changes in the environment. Moreover, the robotic arm acts on its own, and not according to predetermined instructions. We believe that this is the first step in translating consciousness into specific algorithms and mechanisms. The research is published in the journal Science Robotics.
A still from the 2014 sci-fi movie * From the Car *.
What robots are there today?
Most robots today still learn from human-provided simulations and models, or through lengthy and painstaking trial and error. Thus, even despite the astounding success of the Boston Dynamics robots, they cannot imitate human behavior and be aware of ourselves in the same way as we robots. For now.
The photo shows the world-famous robots Boston Dynamics.
If we want robots to become independent and quickly adapt to various situations and unforeseen scenarios, it is important that they learn to recreate themselves. So says one of the authors of the study, professor of mechanical engineering Hod Lipson. Note that an Israeli and American engineer has been creating robots since 2007 that learn not only to fly, swim and walk, but also laugh and cry.
During the study, Lipson and his colleague Robert Kwiatkowski used a robotic arm. Initially, the robot moved randomly and made about a thousand movements in different directions. The robot then applied deep learning, a modern machine learning technique, to create images of models just like itself. The first car models were imprecise and the robot did not know what they were or how they were connected. But after less than 35 hours of training, the drawn model began to match the physical structure of the robot. The researchers note that the robot did not receive any instructions for modeling and assembling the models. In other words, he learned everything himself and understood what he looks like.
Promotional video:
Danger of robots
Lipson notes that self-awareness is the key to allowing robots to move beyond the constraints of so-called “narrow artificial intelligence,” which can only target one target. According to the researchers, what a newborn baby does in a crib - how he learns the world around him - is possibly an advantage of the evolutionary origin of human self-awareness. Although the robotic arm's self-awareness is not yet comparable to that of a human, scientists believe this is the beginning of an era of machine self-awareness.
This is what a robotic arm created by scientists looks like.
Philosophers, psychologists, and scientists have pondered the nature of self-awareness for millennia, but have made relatively little progress. We still hide our misunderstanding with the help of subjective terms, but today robots force us to translate these vague concepts into specific algorithms and mechanisms. Lipson and Kwiatkowski claim to be well aware of the ethical implications of building a self-conscious machine.
According to Lipson, self-awareness will lead to the creation of more flexible and adaptive systems, but this also implies some loss of control over the situation. This is a powerful technology, but it must be handled with care. Now scientists are working to ensure that robots recreate not only their bodies, but also their own minds. We hope they know what they are doing.
Lyubov Sokovikova