Experts predict a sharp increase in the use of robotics in all industries. Perhaps we are on the verge of a new boom, similar to the one we experienced at the beginning of the century in the field of mobile communications.
Robots, until recently mainly used in industry, are steadily entering the service sector and will soon appear in our homes. Do we realize what changes in the habitual way of life threaten us with the penetration of smart machines into our homes, and therefore into our personal life.
Computers entered our lives just a few decades ago. And a generation has already grown up that cannot do without them. Now robots will enter our lives. And if computers and their younger brothers - tablets and smartphones are still our pass to their virtual world, robots will come to our physical world.
They will have all the opportunities that the information environment provides them, but they will not have our shortcomings. In addition, they will be anthropomorphic, that is, similar to a person.
Dr. Joss Wright, one of the researchers who are worried about the coming arrival of robots in our lives. He draws our attention to the fact that robots will have an edge over us at some points. So, thanks to their capabilities, at the first meeting with us, they will already know a lot about us. It will not be difficult for them, using the face recognition program, to find out all the information available on the Internet about us.
Moreover, this will be done instantly and immediately used in a conversation with you. What if humans had these capabilities? You probably would not like it if any passer-by, just by looking at you, would already know everything about you. With robots, this is quite possible.
The robots of the future will always be online. All the possibilities of the network will be available to them anywhere and at any time. For information about us, for self-education and receiving updates to your software. In the end, to download a new recipe and pamper us with something delicious.
Promotional video:
But they will be able to use access to the network not only to receive information, but also to transmit it. And first of all it can be information about us. About the people with whom the robot communicates, about the house in which it “lives”.
Cleaning robots that are the first to enter our homes will be able to collect information about us and our home, Wright points out. Home furnishings, things, our behavior and habits, and ultimately the food in our refrigerator can say a lot about our preferences.
We are all consumers, and advertisers will pay well to "enter our house." All this will allow them to find out which products and services should we advertise in the first place. As Wright notes, companies are interested in us as target audiences for advertising. And home robots can help with this.
If you think that such fears are far-fetched, then think about contextual advertising on the Internet. Modern Internet browsers and search engines are already collecting information about us. So far, they analyze only a narrow sphere of our personal life. This is the history of requests and the texts of our letters. Should I think that it will be different with robots?
Some time ago, Microsoft has already cited examples of Google's interference with users' privacy. One has only to mention the divorce in the email of the search engine's mail service and the user will immediately see an advertisement for a divorce lawyer. At the same time, Microsoft does not use personal information of users for advertising purposes in its Outlook.com mail service, the company said.
However, the leak of personal information can not always be dangerous. Sometimes, and vice versa, the collection of information will occur for the sake of the person himself. This primarily applies to robotic nurses. The information gathered here will help prevent the deterioration of the health of the ward. And even save a life.
In addition to making our privacy even less personal, other threats can await us. Like any technically complex device that has its own program and is connected to a network, a robot can be hacked by hackers. Researchers at the University of Washington conducted an experiment and found that robotic surgeons used for remote operations have weak protection against hacking.
But the patient, if such a robot is hacked by hackers, may die if the operation is interrupted or if the robot's “hands” make incorrect and dangerous movements. What then can be said about robots in whose "hands" will be not human life, but for example a brush for cleaning garbage. Most likely, their protection will be even less serious.
Another issue worth thinking about before robots finally entered our lives is the problem of perceiving them as living beings. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology conducted an interesting opinion poll.
Families were interviewed in whose homes robotic vacuum cleaners are used. As it turned out, most robots had personal names and were perceived, if not as family members, then as pets. For many, their masters even determined their gender. And this despite the fact that the robot vacuum cleaner does not have anthropomorphic features, it has neither arms nor legs. He doesn't even look like a pet. And what will happen when robots become like us?
As soon as robots finally become like people, we will begin to treat them like people. Who among us hasn't been angry with a computer hung over a complex task? And the loss of a robot that was nearby for a long time can be a real tragedy. At the same time, we are not talking about robots with genuine artificial intelligence.
It is enough only external similarity and speech communication skills, and we already mentally endow the machine with soul and consciousness. It is not far from the time when a person will give preference to a robot, and not to another person, as a partner in communication.
Professor Noel Sharkey of the University of Sheffield believes that domestic robots designed to be in constant contact with people are the most dangerous. It is undeniable that robotic nannies and robotic nurses will make our life easier. But their appearance in our life carries certain threats.
Children are most at risk. It is impossible to predict the psychological effect of leaving a child with a robot for a long time, because this will isolate him from human communication, says Sharkey.
For children who are just entering the world, it is important to learn how to communicate with other people. Scientists call this process socialization. If we abuse the opportunity to leave children to robotic nannies, then the child will miss an important element of growing up, which can then negatively affect his adult life.
However, as our world is filled with robots, the skills of communicating with machines will be no less useful than the skills of communicating with people. Robots can firmly enter not only our home in particular, but society as a whole. With a well-designed program, robots will be interesting interlocutors, fun friends and patient partners.
The machines will not be burdened with emotions, but will be able to imitate them when needed. They will be helped by all the knowledge of the Internet and at any moment they will laugh with a fresh anecdote or share good advice.
They will compare favorably with imperfect, emotionally unstable, and insecure people. And if we do not give them the right place in our lives, then, in the end, we will feel their superiority over ourselves.
Sergey Sobol