In a large warehouse-style room, two humanoid robots are entering an obstacle course. Their barrel-shaped torsos, packed with processors and batteries, give the impression that they’ve been to the gym a lot but neglecting leg day. They run and jump, in and out of blocks and steps at an angle similar to the qualifying round of the American Ninja Warrior obstacle course. You run along a beam and then jump over it. Towards the end, they stand on opposite corners of a table and do two synchronized back flips. With their feet firmly on the ground, they celebrate: one spreads his shoulders, the other raises his arms in triumph. None, obviously, broke into a sweat.
This is a parkour display from robotics company Boston Dynamics, demonstrating the capabilities of their Atlas model. Like a gymnastics routine, the sequence of movements here is completely choreographed, programmed by a team of engineers. The smoothness of the movements makes it seem that the robots are digital animations, like something out of a movie: what we are seeing is a simulation of human movement, modeled and projected on computers. It’s just that instead of CGI cartoon characters tricking our brains by moving 24 frames per second, these robots are falling into physical reality.
The Atlas was built to be humanoid, a machine that can perform a variety of tasks in various environments. (Is it our species’ position as an adaptive apex predator, or is it just our narcissism that made the shape so obvious?) The software only contains models of the physical actions that the model can perform; the robot itself must calculate how much force to exert on each of its 28 hydraulic joints to perform a particular jump. Seeing the work impresses me. It’s true that a robot’s hips twist unnaturally as it works to keep its feet below that beam’s center of gravity, but otherwise the routine seems superhuman. I could personally do the initial jumps between platforms at an angle, but I was never able to perform a back somersault, restricted by human fear of landing on my neck.
By watching the video, you can imagine what it would be like to face the physical prowess of the robots in person. Each of them is only a few inches shorter than I am, but they weigh about a third more. They can run at a decent pace, just under 5.6 mph. As a runner, I know I could easily pass one, at least because of his current battery. But I wonder if I can subdue it. In the minute or so it takes me to watch the video, my brain has already switched from marveling at the cool robot to thinking: Can this thing hunt me for sport?
Boston Dynamics tiene has posted videos like this for over a decade, cataloging the progress of his creations as they become more realistic and haunting. One of his models is a robotic dog named Spot, with four legs and sometimes a “neck” surmounted by a camera “head”, an android’s best friend.
Although the company claims its creations are research projects, it sells Spot and rents one to the NYPD. It could have been used to perform tasks that are too risky for a living being, such as delivering food in a hostage situation or checking areas with high amounts of radiation. But his appearance accompanying police officers during an arrest in a public building generated enough public reaction to bring his trial to a premature end. People found the robodog a waste and a fear, especially in possession of the institution most likely to use force against them. It certainly didn’t help that the robodog looked so much like the hideous killer machines in an episode of the “Black Mirror” show called “Metalhead,” probably because the show’s creator Charlie Brooker, who wrote the episode, was inspired by earlier Boston Dynamics. Videos.
We can ask Atlas the same question: what is it for? The video just shows us what it can do. For now, the robots want nothing; In addition to not falling, they expect a reason for being. The company says the goal is to create robots that can perform mundane tasks on all types of terrain, but the video does not contain such tasks; We only see feats of agility, not the routine functions that these robots would be spinning around. Through this gap enter the tentacles of sinister speculation.
You can imagine what it would be like to face the physical prowess of robots in person.
There is a companion video accompanying the original, one that appears to have been designed to allay any fears its counterpart may have raised. It’s a behind-the-scenes video in which the engineers explain the project. The focus shifts from the experienced robots to the reassuring human people who built them. There are also serious errors. We see a robot fall on the last step of a steep curve; another plant in itself, since it becomes unbalanced and does not slip on anything. There is a scene where one robot makes the final leap backwards while the other drops headlong, hip-shaped limbs and then rolls into a fetal position. We see robots fixing their hardware. An engineer reconnects the cables. A robot is suspended in the air while it loses liquid. Another lies face down, arms around his head, while a technician tends to his extended leg. Being revived after surgery, it stretches the limbs as if awakening from a restful sleep.
It’s comforting to see the fallibility of robots – they still need us! – but surprisingly, it makes them look more human. Looking back at the original parkour video, I notice a third robot in the background, inert, in a kind of yoga pose. Are you taking a break? Was it relegated to the background for poor performance? Have you been rejected by your fellow robots?
Of course, these robots were not trained in any of these social contexts; their artificial intelligence only serves to keep them upright as they move from one point to another. However, it is impossible to avoid the idea that they might somehow turn evil. We do not know what profession they can enter or how far they can advance in the career. It is conceivable that an Atlas-type robot could one day use weapons or receive strength, stamina, and marksmanship beyond any human. This is not an unusual cause for concern: Elon Musk, who claims that Tesla is working on his own humanoid robot, said that it should be designed in such a way that most humans could “escape from it and probably dominate it.” “
An earlier Boston Dynamics video, released late last year, shows some of the company’s projects dancing to Contours’s “Do You Love Me”. Adorable clips are more than just a way to combine mobility proficiency testing fun and more than a marketing gimmick. This entertainment acclimates us to robots, distracting us from what they might one day do. Seeing this invokes our human emotions. And that could one day allow these robots, which don’t have the same problem, to get better right under our noses.
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