{"id":341245,"date":"2017-05-18T04:06:56","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T20:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1492675"},"modified":"2017-05-18T04:06:56","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T20:06:56","slug":"a-robot-doesnt-have-to-shoot-back-rodney-brooks-says-of-machines-in-the-military","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/a-robot-doesnt-have-to-shoot-back-rodney-brooks-says-of-machines-in-the-military\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A robot doesn\u2019t have to shoot back,\u2019 Rodney Brooks says of machines in the military"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Rethink Robotics<\/a> co-founder and CTO, former CSAIL director and all-around robot luminary Rodney Brooks joined the Disrupt New York stage this afternoon to tackle some complex questions, ranging from robots place in the living room to the battlefield.<\/p>\n

Brooks has a fair bit of experience in both categories, as a cofounder of iRobot<\/a>, whose product offerings have ranging from vacuuming to bomb diffusion. And while his current company deals more in the realm of factory automation, a number of these ethical issues still clearly weigh heavily on the Australian roboticist.<\/p>\n

It was a question about whether robots should be considered unfit for any human tasks that really caused Brooks to ponder their place in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis might be controversial,\u201d he said, pausing momentarily. \u201cA lot of people say we shouldn\u2019t have robots making firing decisions in the military \u2013 whether to pull the trigger. We thought about that a lot at iRobot. And while iRobot has not sold any robots that do this, we came to the conclusion that a robot can afford to fire second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sending robots into the battlefield has, of course, been a long-time subject for debate among those who spent time thinking about future technologies. And certainly iRobot\u2019s own origins as a DARPA funded-startup have made Brooks keenly aware of all of the baggage such questions contain. But Brooks argued that, as with practically every other bold, forward thinking question, there are several sides to consider.<\/p>\n

After all, he explained, while there\u2019s good reason for concern around essentially constructing killing machines, robots are capable of, among other things, calmly assessing context. He continued, \u201dIf you\u2019re sending an 18 or 19 year old kid \u2013 which is what the US does \u2013 and putting them in a high stress situation at night in a place where they don\u2019t speak the language and they think they\u2019re getting shot at, they shoot back. A robot doesn\u2019t have to shoot back. There\u2019s an example where they can be much more cautious. So, anything you can come up with, you can probably find arguments both ways. They\u2019re never easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The question of how important human characteristics are in developing robots is similarly up in the air. While Rethink imbues\u00a0its own robots like Baxter<\/a> with certain human traits like arms and a face, he once again returned to the Roomba as an example of when exact mimicry isn\u2019t necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Roomba is definitely not humanoid, but people project a lot on it,\u201d Brooks explained. \u201cWe had 6,500 robots in Afghanistan and Iraq doing roadside bombs, but people named them and said they were their friends. Roombas you can buy clothes for. People project a lot onto these robots, even though they\u2019re not of human form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, Brooks\u00a0explained, future home robots could certainly benefit from better adapting to their environments.<\/p>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n

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    Rodney Brooks (Rethink Robotics) at TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2017<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>\n

    \u201cWhen we\u2019re putting robots in environments where people normally are, some level of biomimicry is important,\u201d he added. \u201cThe big problem for home robots is, right now, Roombas are low to the ground, and our homes are designed for something that\u2019s between five and six feet tall and skinny. So that\u2019s where we\u2019ll ultimately see home robots, is tall and skinny, because the home is designed for tall and skinny.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \"\" Rethink Robotics co-founder and CTO, former CSAIL director and all-around robot luminary Rodney Brooks joined the Disrupt New York stage this afternoon to tackle some complex questions, ranging from robots place in the living room to the battlefield.
    \nBrooks has a fair bit of experience in both categories, as a cofounder of iRobot, whose product offerings have ranging from vacuuming to bomb… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

    \n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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