Futurologists and Robotics, but what about Agents?

Several futurists predict that robotics is set on course to change our lives. They way we work, live and play. And this change will come within the next decade!

Although history is littered with such 'futuristic visions' of the 21st Century that never came true, many people still put a big stake in futurologists and their predictions about the next decade.

In particular, David Smith claims that robots will "make many middle management and clerical jobs redundant and make people's lives easier by doing menial tasks. They will also become companions."

Although I agree that assistive technologies will be extremely big in the next decade, I feel that robotics are not yet where they need to be. Although locomotion, grasping, speech and vision recognition has come a long way, and companies like IBM are promising great advances in the near future, they are still not yet ready to be placed in the home or workplace.

Let me try my hand at futurology and predict a brief reign of the intelligent agent before the rise of the machines. The majority of the advances in artificial intelligence and personal assistant technology will first reside within computers, consumer devices and appliances. This is where most consumers will first interact with them and the majority of their initial development will take place. Once the robotics are ready, they will quickly find themselves embodied inside, able to move and more actively interact within the world.

Articles:

BBC NEWS | The business of future gazing
Financial Mail | March of the Machines

Death of Aibo: The Abandonment of The Robotic Age

In what is by now old news, Sony has announced that it will abandon the AIBO robotic dog, along with its robot development team. Is this the burst of what was to be the beginning of the promised age of robotics?

The AIBO's have proved their worth from greatly advancing robotic soccer to increasing the allure of computer science to women and minorities, as well as increase the happiness of terminally ill patients and the elderly. Open source communities have developed many applications and systems for the dog, allowing a great movement in the areas of hobbiest robot software and robotics in education at all levels.

The only answer from Sony? They wanted to focus as a company and the Aibo wasn't in the direction they wanted to go. Sony is shifting back once again into attempting to dominate the entertainment industry, where most of the non military research and development bread and butter resides.

The entertainment industry has lead huge advances in computer technology, simulation, real-time rendering, ubiquitious and realtime media, portability and mobility, and more. If anyone has been successful in robotics for every day life, it has been Aibo because of their entertainment value.

Now that the Aibo is dead, will another company step up? Other than the few that are trying to create simple kids toys, this remains yet to be seen.


News Articles:

Sony to quit manufacturing AIBO, QRIO
What happened to the Robot Age?
For Sony's Robotic Aibo, It's the Last Year of the Dog.
Rest in Peace, Sony Aibo
Man Bites Robotic Dog
Man Kills Robot
Muttricide and Profits at Sony
Aibo put to sleep
Sony scraps four-legged robot pet Aibo
Aibo Collector on End of Robot Dog's Production (NPR-Audio)
Robotic toys are going the way of the dinosaurs

The Beginning

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Every generation seems to have a dream of machines that will serve mankind. We are continually promised in media and society that this dream will be reached sooner rather than later, but it seems like we are no closer today than we were when the dream first began.

We have had the promise of personal assistants such as HAL from 2001, A Space Odessy, or the computer system in Star Trek, The Next Generation; or even personal service robots such as Rosie from the Jetsons. But why don't we have them today? I believe that the technology is possible, and have founded the company, Assistive Intelligence Inc. to work on such technologies.

My journey... is to solve some of the hardest problems of personal assistive technologies.

This blog will serve as a social commentary on the technological innovations of our time, particularly those innovations that impact personal assistant technologies such as HAL or Rosie.