Artificial Intelligence and Real Robots

AI and Real Robots

Introduction. Many artificial intelligence (AI) experts are predicting that by the middle of this century, intelligent machines will be all around us. Right now these machines like robots, already touch our lives. Automobiles, electronic devices, and aircraft are assembled and tested with the help of different kinds of robotic machines. If computers saved the world from information explosion, intelligent machines so made, that computers have affordable cost for students and many people. Practically all machines around us are rapidly becoming "intelligent" with help of the intelligent applications. Heavy industry, transportation, agriculture, the military enforcement, and even entertainments are just areas more recently benefiting from computer systems and intelligent machines. AI and robotic industry revenue is now measured by billions of dollars. With the vast advancements in technology , we are now closer to a solution to that complex problem of creating a humanized robot than we ever have been. It is difficult to predict when this will happened but it is very likely to happen this century.

What is a robot? Czech dramatist Karel Capek invented the term "robot" in 1917 to describe the mechanical people in his science fiction drama R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). His intelligent machines, intended as servants for their human creators, end up taking over the world and destroying humanity.

The prototypes of today's robots was created during the Victoria era - the Steam Man (1865), Electric Man (1885), Automatic Man (1890-1900), and even robot-soldier Boilerplate (1893). ( See: http://www.bigredhair.com/robots).

Robots are of great interest to AI researchers - they offer many ways for computers to interact with the real world. In general, the robot is a general-purpose machine with an embedded computer device capable of emulating certain human-like characteristics such as judgment, reasoning, learning, vision, etc. Robots range from small, miniature machines, to large constructions , usually with a numerical control system, that gives them some degree of autonomous control. Robots ,which may be mobile or stationary, have been incorporated into a wide range of industries.

Intelligent Industrial robots have been used for welding, painting, material handling, assembly, spray coating, inspection, etc. Long time industrial robots were more like automated machines used where the jobs are repetitively, dirty, dangerous, or very difficult. The intelligent robots have embedded controllers with artificial intelligence control programs that can solve the problem of adapting , reasoning, and responding to changes in the robot's environment. Now almost one million industrial robots are in use around the world. Intelligent industrial robots had the following advantages: reduce manufacturing costs, improve product quality, increase human resource productivity , improve time to manufacture, increase manufacturing flexibility, increase capital resource productivity.

Fanuc LTD developed Robots and Robomachines. For example, robot R-2000iA is a multi-purpose, intelligent robot integrating mechanic, electronic and artificial intelligence technologies; tLR Mates are multi-purpose, intelligent mini-robots the size of a human arm. The product line of Robomachines includes ROBOSHOT (Electric Injection Molding Machines), ROBOCUT (wire-cut EDMs), ROBODRILL (CNC Drills) and ROBOnano Ui (Super Nano Machine).
Genesis Systems Group is the largest robotic arc welding work cell manufacturer in North America, with over 1600 robotic welding system installations.
Xerox PARC Modular Robotic Systems. Modular Reconfigurable Robotics is one approach to building robots for various complex tasks. Instead of designing a new and different mechanical robot for each task, the user just builds many copies of one simple module. The module can't do much by itself, but when many of them are connected together, the result is a system that can do complex tasks. In fact, a modular robot can even reconfigure itself - change its shape by moving its modules around - to meet the demands of different tasks or different working environments.

Laboratory robots are used for many repetitive tasks in chemistry, biology and clinical chemistry labs.

Applied AI systems, Inc (AAI) offers various intelligent robots, vision and processor boards, and a robotic arm to meet the needs of AI researchers.

Medical robots are being designed for the health care field with a completely different set of goals and expectations- for example in the areas of diagnosis, surgery , nursing, and so on. Medical devices for scanning the inside of the human body using non-invasive ultrasound , nuclear, Computed Tomography (CT) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI or MRI) technologies made a revolution in the medicine field. Examples of the medical robots include:

The medical scanners such as Diasus (Dinamic Imaging), Esaote ( Bracco Group), and so on, play an important role in diagnosing problems and illnesses.
Integrated Surgical Systems (ISS) provides computer-controlled, image-directed robotic products for surgical applications, such as ROBODOC, ORTODOC, NEUROMATE.

Space robots: Mostly the man-made satellites, that orbit Earth are robots. Satellites come in many shapes and sizes and have many uses: communications, earth remote sensing, weather, global positioning, and scientific research. In space, robots are being used also for unmanned missions to planets, comets and asteroids. Two of NASA's space robots Spirit and Opportunity collect information from Martian surface. Humans and humanoid robots (Robonaut Project ) worked side-by-side this summer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to evaluate the concept of using human-robotic teams for goals of space researches.

Sea robots: Many different companies design, build and operate sea robots ( Remote Operated Vehicles -ROV) or deep sea robots. They search for and recover ships, aircraft or other type of wreckage, research the deep ocean and ocean floor, support deep-ocean oil and gas drilling and product operations. The list of the sea robot's dealers around the world can be found on the site SeaBotix.

Robotic warfare: The US military relied on its Predator and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for reconnaissance and identifying targets during the Afghanistan campaign. Unmanned aircraft is cheaper than manned warplanes, and don't create a risk losing pilots on dangerous missions. Predator drones, the militaries unmanned eyes in the sky also started carrying armor-piercing Hellfire missiles.

Military robots PackBot designed and developed by iRobot Inc. were used also in Afghanistan by the American Army in the summer of 2002 and later in the Iraq campaign. Among its mission was searching the tunnels under the Baghdad airport, remotely looking for enemy soldiers thought to be hiding in buildings, and remotely examining equipment left on an airfield that was potentially booby trapped. The iRobot-John Deere R-Gator is a versatile and rugged platform capable of taking on a wide variety of critical unmanned missions, such as a perimeter guard, unmanned scout, “point man,” supply carrier and more.
As a key partner in the U.S. Army’s Future Combat Systems (FCS) program, iRobot is developing a next-generation SUGV, a portable, reconnaissance and tactical robot that can enter and secure areas that are either inaccessible or too dangerous for soldiers. SUGV provides real-time intelligence and complete situational awareness while keeping troops out of harm’s way.
Hydroid's Remus was lauded by the US Navy for its contribution to the mine clearing efforts in Iraq.

Robots for hazard goals: HDE Manufacturing, Inc. (HDE) was founded in 1996 for the specific purpose of designing and manufacturing reliable robotics systems for use in bomb disposal, SWAT, HAZMAT, Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Response. The MURV-100, robotics systems for Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD), is a fully mature, compact, and inexpensive teleoperated robot system.

Household robots: Now we can find on the market, a home application such as an independent robotic vacuum cleaner or some other appliance. Soon all of our daily chores will be performed by robots. They can without problems clean floors, pools, gutters. Below, there are 3 samples of such types of robots:

Roomba is the first automatic vacuum available in the U.S.
Virtual visiting robot ConnectR is a new way to see, talk to and interact with your loved ones , friends and even pets, when you cannot be there in person,
The RoboMower allows to cut the grass on almost any surface - all by itself. It works in almost any lawn or garden environment, with sensors that prevent it from crossing the lawn perimeter. Using this robot eliminates smelly gas, oil, air and noise pollution.

Robotic toys are now available both children and adults. Here are several types of products:

StoreforKnowledge.com suggests a vast array of toy robots, such as Capsela Morpha-Bot, Moon Walker II, Soccer Jr. Robotic Kit, etc.
The Lego MindStorms Robotics Invention System is easy enough for kids, but powerful also for high school and university-level students to make impressive use of its capabilities.
The latest of AIBO®Entertainment Robot ...is: AIBO Robots

Special Robots: There are also special robots, that solve special task, for example to emulate the movement of animals or insects, which can swim or climb. These robots are being investigated for possible use in unique situations.

Gastrobotic Group at the University of South Florida in Tampa (Director Dr. Stuart Wilkinson) created the "Gastronome", that powers itself from what it eats. It consist of three , meter-long wheeled wagons with a microbial fuel cell at its heart.

Humanoid robots: Humanoid robots called also androids, robosapiens, robo erected, etc. Android World is the site devoted to androids. An android is an anthropomorphic robot--i.e a robot that looks like a human. You can find on this site many interesting projects. According to Android World , at present , there are 64 major android projects around the world- 31 in Japan, 9 in the US, 5 in Korea, and the rest scattered throughout the world. It is interesting that Japan appears to be leading the world in this technology. Below are listed only a few of the current projects:

Honda Motor Co built a battery powered android ASIMO, a four -foot tall robot that not only speak and walks, but can also climb stairs, perform balancing acts and answer some questions. It requires a human operator to function. It has even rang the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange once, and regularly greets visitors to Honda Motor Company's headquarters in Japan.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd, Tokyu Construction Co, Ltd., the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, and an independent government organization, have achieved a world first success in their joint development of a humanoid robot HRP-1S. This remotely controlled robots performs outdoor work tasks normally carried out by human operators involving the operation (driving and excavation) of a vibrating industrial vehicle while in a seated position.
Sony's QRIO is an entertainment robot. It can walk on irregular surfaces, can learn and later recognize a face, can speak and sing. QRIO doesn't just walk on its own two feet. It dances with its entire body, and it expresses a full range of emotions.
Two new humanoids called ARNE and ARNEA were announced August of 2003 in Russia. A St.Petersburg company called New Era and St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University (Russia) built these robots..
- The Japanese Humanoid Robotics Project (Kawada Industries, Inc. , etc.) has produced the HRP-2 robot "Promet", which is known for dancing and preserving Japanese culture. But now, the HRP-2 can hear and understand humans in the noisy environment. Hearing equipment. includes an array of microphones consisting of eight omni directional microphones mounted around the robot's head.

What robots can do? The table below demonstrates the human abilities that robot achieve.

Human abilities to:	Examples of realization in robot systems
See, speak and hear, and feel any touch	Machine vision systems, speaking systems , systems with tactile sensors, virtual human
Move or run	Different types of rollers, see robots, humanoid robots
Have emotions	Some humanoid robots (Kismet, QRIO)
Learn and adapt to environment	Machine learning systems, some humanoid robots
Think	Creative machines, some expert systems, chess and other play applications
Reproduce itself	industrial robots-still requires a human to reproduce itself
Power with food	robot "Gastronome" can handle food. Must robots use machine type power such as electricity
Communicate not only with humans , but also other species	Humanoid robot, different kind of animal or insect shaped robots
Be autonomous a short or long time	Satellites, space rollers, humanoid robots

Keep in mind , that some robots have abilities that greatly exceed those of human. Some robot see and hear in infrared and ultrasound diapasons, they do not tire, can run with more speed, can navigate via satellite, do not exhibit fear. On the negative side, they are not usually adaptable outside of the their domain, they do not handle the unexpected well, they often have physical limitations such as the short battery life of walking robots, need frequent care and maintenance by a human, and by not understanding fear, can get themselves into trouble.

Intellectual games with robots

Every year, robots and their operators gather from around the world to show their skills, including soccer capability, at RoboCup. RoboCup is an international research and education initiative. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research or integrated project-oriented education. For this purpose, RoboCup chose to use soccer game as a primary domain, and organizes RoboCup (The Robot World Cup Soccer Games and Conferences). The long-term scientific goal of the RoboCup is to develop humanoid teams that could beat the World Cup champions by 2050.

The victory of IBM's chess-playing computer, Deep Blue, over world champion chess player Gary Kasparov in May 1997 has brought attention back to artificial intelligence. After that match, Gary Kasparov had believed absolutely existence of Artificial Intelligence. He wrote:" In many ways, it is more difficult to play against (Deep Blue). It never tires, never makes tactical mistakes from which you can profit". The 8-game match between AI program Deep Fritz installed in 8-processors computer, and world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik, who wrested the title from Gary Kasparov, in 2002 drew with a result 4 wins each. "Naturally the match has the character of a revenge"-said Kramnik in the interview with one Russian journalist.

Human and robots regular competition - Man Versus Machine

In what is becoming an annual tradition, Kasparov will take on the worlds best chess-playing computer program, ChessBase's Fritz, for a $200 000 purse. The four-game match, will run from November 11 to 18, 2004 at New York's Athletic Club. The match is the first official world chess championship "Man versus Machine" in total virtual realty.

Human and robots regular competition- Intellectual machines versus Intellectual machines

International Computer Games Association (ICGA) was created as the ICCA in 1977 by computer chess programmers to organize championship events for computer programs. One of the aims of the ICGA is to champion computer gaming and to add value to the human experience of game-playing. The ICGA have signed a contract with Bar-IIan University, Israel for them to host the 12th 2004 World Computer Championship. Winner in the 11th 2003 World Computer Championship in Graz (Austria) was the chess playing program Shredder 8, developed by Meyer-Kaylen (Germany). This program has won the five computer-chess world championships.

The FIRST Robotics Competition is an exciting, multinational competition of teams including professionals and young people who solve an engineering design problem in an intense and competitive way. The program can be a life-changing, career-molding experience, and a lot of fun. In 2004 the competition will reach more than 20,000 students on over 900 teams in 27 competitions. The teams come from Canada, Brazil, Great Britain, and almost every U.S. state.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) periodically, from 1990 year organizes International Aerial Robot Competitions, Student UAV Competitions, Graund Competitions and Underwater Competitions.
DARPA (The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) conducted a challenge of autonomous ground vehicles between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in March of 2004. This Agency has scheduled the second autonomous vehicle race for October 2005. For this round DARPA, is offering a $2 million prize, doubling the $1 million unclaimed prize of this year’s race.
You can find the schedule of the future robot competitions on the site: Robot Competition FAQ

References: Common references about real intelligent products and services are:

The Computer Information Center
GlobalSpec- the world's largest database of technical products and services
PCAI magazine- has a long list of vendors with products in AI field

Comparison-shopping Center: You can use directly the Comparison-shopping Center to buy on the Internet a robot with the lowest price.

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