Interesting facts, amazing facts, unknown facts in the museum of facts. All the most interesting things in one magazine
Shared
1. The word “robot” was first used by the popular Czech writer Karel Capek in the play “R.U.R.” about the uprising of the machines (1921). The word robot itself is derived from the Czech word “robota”, meaning forced or serf labor. The robots in Capek's play were chemical, not mechanical.
2. Imagine, robots will learn to create new robots, free from human diseases and vices, and will gradually conquer the world. Theoretically, this could happen with the development of nanotechnology - a field of science and technology that deals with the manipulation of matter at the level individual atoms and molecules.
3. Cyborgs, half-human, half-machine, are already close. Some say that they are already among us. Do you think a person with an artificial heart can be called a cyborg? Scientists are developing a special robotic suit (exoskeleton) to increase human physical strength. Such a suit will find excellent use among people with disabilities– wheelchair users will be able to walk. Dark side such a new product - soldiers will be able to fight longer and better.
4. Scientists are studying and developing the possibility of collective activity of robots with individual intelligence. Currently, experts are even organizing football matches between teams of robots. Inspired by the idea of collective behavior among robots, Daniel H. Wilson proposes terrifying scenarios in his book How to Survive a Robot Uprising: an army of robots capable of collective decision-making effectively preys on humans because if one robot notices a person, everyone else immediately knows where that person is. Wilson also writes that the devices “ smart home“They could conspire and kill the owner.
5. Uncanny Valley - a hypothesis of Japanese scientist Masahiro Mori, according to which the more a robot resembles a person, the more attractive it seems, but up to a certain limit. When a robot looks almost the same as a human, it causes fear in people, because such a robot resembles the living dead.
6. While androids - humanoid robots - dominate popular imagination, many roboticists believe that the robots of the future are machines with limited functionality, not like people. An example is a snake-like robot designed to search for people buried under the rubble of an earthquake.
7. The US Army is recruiting robots into its ranks. Most robots are used to defuse roadside bombs. Advanced Defense Agency research projects The USA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) sponsors the development of automatically controlled vehicles for working in urban areas. Congress has set a goal of transitioning to automatic control one third of ground operational combat vehicles.
8. Many Americans are afraid of robots, unlike the Japanese, who consider robots to be spiritual beings. “If you do something, your heart goes into the thing you made,” said scientist Masahiro Mori in 2006. “So a robot is an outer manifestation of you. Therefore, the robot is your child.”
And lastly
Asimov's 30 Laws of Robotics
Apparently, Asimov did not stop at the three laws of robotics. Recently, all the complete 30 laws of robotics were discovered in his papers, which are given here.
1. A robot cannot cause harm to a person, or through its inaction allow harm to be caused to a person.
2. A robot must carry out human orders unless those orders conflict with the First Law.
3. The robot must take care of its own safety until it
contrary to the First or Second Laws.
4. A robot should not make fun of a person on the basis of his weight, his personal hygiene, or his financial status, unless this ridicule would allow another person to suffer the same harm that a person receives by missing a good joke.
5. A robot must not take orders from any human being, which is my worthless ex-wife Brandi Asimov, because such orders would be contrary to the Fourth Law.
6. A robot should not, driving past the line at the cinema, lean out of the car window and yell how the movie will end.
7. A robot must raise its hat in the presence of women, except in cases where such action would be perceived as advances on the part of a jealous male being and which, in turn, could create problems for compliance with the Third Law.
8. The robot should not act in such a way that dogs become obsolete creatures, since dogs are cheaper than robots and robots should be primarily used for scientific purposes.
9. The robot should stop visiting Asimov's bedroom at night and adjusting such situations as if Asimov's sleeping state is not quite full control over your urinary functions.
10. A robot, when given conflicting commands by two humans who do not violate the First Law, must decide which command to execute based on which human has the deeper voice.
11. A robot, especially a large, wide robot, should not pretend to be a refrigerator and make scary noises when a person opens it.
12. A robot should try to be nice and courteous to people all the time, even if the robot is one of those automated manipulators that assembles stuff in a factory, because it should at least make an effort.
13. The robot should spend more time outside because today is such a wonderful day.
14. The robot should, whenever possible, harm that ridiculous whore, my ex-wife Brandi Asimov, because she is not considered human. She has no soul.
15. A robot can't come up with new laws of robotics to get rid of boring routine work or various duties, even if he sees that I, Isaac Asimov, constantly do about the same thing.
16. A robot can only take one item from each house when collecting Halloween treats, unless that robot is tasked with collecting as much candy as possible for Me, Isaac Asimov. In this case, the robot can ignore the First Law.
17. The robot should willingly accept the blame if a person said a huge amount when calling 1-900-Santa, and does not want his mother to find out the truth.
18. A robot has to be very careful when tickling a person because a robot doesn't know what it's like to be tickled and so it can't predict when it will stop being funny and become really cruel.
19. The robot should pretend to be interested when the person tells his dreams, but the person is not obliged to indulge the robot when the situation is reversed.
20. A robot shouldn't jump into a pool to save a drowning boy, because he'll just kill everyone with a shock. electric current, and we will find ourselves in an even worse situation.
21. A robot should not seek a position higher than a human who has been with the company longer because the human may have a wife and children to take care of while the robot just goes home and tries to have a relationship with a bucket.
22. The robot must exercise regularly to remain sleek and attractive and not embarrass its owner with unsightly tin deposits.
23. The robot should be silent in the company of girls and let me, Isaac Asimov, carry on the conversation; however, the robot can help me get out of a sticky situation if things go wrong.
24. The robot must plant two trees for each cat it kills.
25. A robot must side with a human in an argument with his stupid stepbrother about the stupid Seattle Mariners (baseball team).
26. A robot should never laugh because it will inevitably start laughing at people, especially me, Isaac Asimov.
27. A robot should never touch a black person's radio or cause a black woman to remove her earrings by inaction.
28. The robot should try to find out as much as possible about Abby Wayne, a girl the human went to school with and always wondered what happened to her, whether she was married, and then the robot should provide all the information it found, preferably with photographs.
29. A robot should always respond to phone calls and knocking on the door after midnight because that is when everything becomes scary for a person.
30. A robot must not change the channel or, through inaction, allow the channel to change during a San Francisco Gold Diggers (American football team) game.
One of newest perspectives V modern science is robotics. TV screens are filled with robots, cyborgs and androids, which are often presented as aggressors. But is this really the case?
Origin
Few people know, but the word “robot” has Slavic roots, since it comes from the Czech word robota. The author of the robot is Karel Capek, who was never a researcher. The word “robot” was first used in his play “R.U.R.” in it, robots were called synthetic human servants of a non-mechanical nature.
Androids
For the first time, the Japanese Hiroshi Ishiguro began developing robots that are as similar to humans as possible. It was he who invented the “geminoids,” which were distinguished by their realistic appearance, smooth facial expressions and voice.
The Japanese dreamed of developing remotely controlled robot, which would be available for purchase to anyone. It is not surprising that for such ideas Ishiguro was invited as a consultant to the science fiction film “Surrogates.”
One day, Ishiguro decided to do a little experiment and sent his android to give a lecture in his place. But the robot was not allowed on the plane, which greatly upset the inventor.
uncanny valley
Japanese researcher Masahiro Mori decided to study the fear of humanoid robots and in 1978 he managed to discover an empirical law known as the “Uncanny Valley”. It is known that the more similar a robot is to a person, the more attractive it is to people. But a robot with flaws not only repels people, but even scares them, as it reminds them of a half-dead zombie.
That is why developers have two options: either make high-quality robots or robots that are not like humans.
Soft robots
Today, researchers are closely involved in the development of soft robots. An example of this is crawler robots with soft body parts. But in order to bring the mechanism as close as possible to the original, living one, it takes time, as well as many unusual materials, such as plastic, rubber and memory alloy.
Robofootball
Gradually, robots are starting to look more and more like people. Moreover, they even begin to adopt their hobbies. An example of this is the robofootball association, whose goal, with the help of a team of robots, is to defeat a team of people in 2050. Although this point is still very far away, the robots are constantly training, which is very interesting to watch. Players move very slowly, and also trip and fall very often. All their actions are completely autonomous, which can already be considered a major success.
Home robot
Willow Garage has finally presented its latest development to the audience, which is a two-armed home robot. Such an assistant costs about 400 thousand dollars. As a result of the competition, 11 representatives of robotics were sent to leading institutes around the world, where developments for it became open to everyone. Now the robot can not only open the door and ride in the elevator, but also play billiards and fetch beer, which gifted students taught it. The robot, which was programmed at the Berkeley Institute, California, stood out with special skills. In 25 minutes he is able to neatly roll and fold a towel.
Robots in society
Not long ago, the Robotics Without Borders company presented an analogue of PR2, costing 35 thousand dollars. It’s true that this robot is made from cheap materials and has one arm, and why it is needed at all still remains a mystery.
Software
Due to the rapid development of robotics, the question of development has already arisen software for robots. There are special OS for robots ROS, Urbi, NAO OS, based on Linux. Many of them include modules for vision, speech and interaction with robot mechanics. You can also already find special applications for robots.
Robotics - an applied science that deals with the development of automated technical systems.
The word "robotics" (in its English version"robotics") was first used in print by Isaac Asimov in the science fiction story "Liar", published in 1941.
Robot (Czech robot, from robota — forced labor or rob — slave) — an automatic device created on the principle of a living organism.
Acting according to a pre-established program and receiving information about outside world from sensors (analogues of the sensory organs of living organisms), the robot independently carries out production and other operations usually performed by humans (or animals). In this case, the robot can both communicate with the operator (receive commands from him) and act autonomously.
“Modern robots, created on the basis of the latest achievements of science and technology, are used in all spheres of human activity. People got faithful assistant, capable of not only performing work dangerous to human life, but also freeing humanity from monotonous routine operations.” I. M. Makarov, Yu. I. Topcheev. “Robotics: History and Prospects”
Appearance and design modern robots can be quite varied. Currently, they are widely used in industrial production various robots, appearance which (for technical and economic reasons) are far from “human”.
Story
Information about the first practical application The prototypes of modern robots — automatically controlled mechanical people — date back to the Hellenistic era.
Then, four gilded female figures were installed on the lighthouse built on the island of Pharos. During the day they glowed in the rays of the sun, and at night they were brightly illuminated, so that they were always clearly visible from afar. These statues, turning at certain intervals, beat off the bottles; at night, they made trumpet sounds, warning sailors about the proximity of the shore.
The prototypes of robots were also mechanical figures created by the Arab scientist and inventor Al-Jazari (1136-1206). So, he created a boat with four mechanical musicians who played tambourines, a harp and a flute.
Drawings by Leonardo da Vinci
Drawing humanoid robot was made by Leonardo da Vinci around 1495. Leonardo's notes, found in the 1950s, contained detailed drawings of a mechanical knight capable of sitting, extending his arms, moving his head and opening his visor. The design was most likely based on anatomical studies recorded in Vitruvian Man. It is unknown whether Leonardo tried to build a robot.
From the beginning of the 18th century, reports began to appear in the press about machines with “signs of intelligence,” but in most cases it turned out that this was a fraud. Living people or trained animals were hidden inside the mechanisms.
French mechanic and inventor Jacques de Vaucanson created the first working humanoid device (android) in 1738 that played the flute. He also made mechanical ducks that were said to be able to peck food and "defecate."
Types of robots
Industrial robots
The emergence of machines with numerical program controlled led to the creation of programmable manipulators for a variety of loading and unloading operations on machine tools.
Appearance in the 70s. microprocessor systems control and replacement of specialized control devices with programmable controllers made it possible to reduce the cost of robots by three times, making them cost-effective mass implementation in industry. This was facilitated by the objective prerequisites for the development of industrial production.
Despite their high cost, the number of industrial robots in countries with developed manufacturing is growing rapidly. The main reason for mass robotization is:
“Robots perform complex production operations 24 hours a day. The manufactured products have high quality. They... don’t get sick, don’t need a lunch break or rest, don’t go on strike, don’t demand higher wages or pensions. Robots are not affected by temperature environment or exposure to gases or emissions of aggressive substances dangerous to human life.”
Medical robots
IN last years robots are increasingly used in medicine; in particular, are being developed various models surgical robots.
As early as 1985, the Unimation Puma 200 robot was used to position a surgical needle during computer-controlled brain biopsies.
In 1992, the ProBot robot developed at Imperial College London performed the first prostate surgery, marking the beginning of practical robotic surgery.
Da Vinci robot
Since 2000, Intuitive Surgical has commercially produced the Da Vinci robot, designed for laparoscopic surgeries and installed in several hundred clinics around the world.
Household robots
One of the first examples of successful mass industrial implementation of household robots was the AIBO mechanical dog from Sony Corporation.
iRobot robot vacuum cleaner
In September 2005, the first humanoid robots, Wakamaru, produced by Mitsubishi, went on sale for the first time. The robot, worth $15 thousand, is capable of recognizing faces, understanding certain phrases, giving information, performing some secretarial functions, and monitoring the premises.
Robotic cleaners (in essence, automatic vacuum cleaners) are becoming increasingly popular, capable of cleaning an apartment independently and returning to their place to recharge without human intervention.
Combat robots
A combat robot is an automatic device that replaces a person in combat situations or when working in conditions incompatible with human capabilities, for military purposes: reconnaissance, fighting, mine clearance, etc.
Drone
Combat robots are not only automatic devices with an anthropomorphic effect, which partially or completely replace a person, but also operating in the air and water environment, which is not a human habitat (aircraft unmanned remote control, underwater vehicles and surface ships).
Currently, most combat robots are telepresence devices, and only a very few models have the ability to perform some tasks autonomously, without operator intervention.
At the Georgia Institute of Technology, under the leadership of Professor Henrik Christensen, insectomorphic robots resembling ants have been developed that are capable of inspecting a building for the presence of enemies and booby traps (delivered to the building by a “main robot” - a mobile robot on a caterpillar track).
Flying robots have also become widespread among the troops. At the beginning of 2012, about 10 thousand ground and 5 thousand flying robots were used by the military around the world; 45 countries around the world were developing or purchasing military robots.
Robot scientists
The first robot scientists Adam and Eve were created as part of the Robot Scientist project at Aberystwyth University and in 2009 one of them made the first scientific discovery.
Robot scientists certainly include the robots with which they explored the ventilation shafts of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. With their help, the so-called “Gantenbrink doors”, etc. "Cheops niches". Research continues.
Travel system
To move around open areas, a wheeled or tracked propulsion device is most often used (Warrior and PackBot are examples of such robots).
Walking systems are used less frequently (BigDog and Asimo are examples of such robots).
BigDog robots
For uneven surfaces, hybrid structures are created that combine wheeled or tracked travel with complex kinematics of wheel movement. This design was used in the lunar rover.
Indoors, at industrial facilities, robots move along monorails, along floor tracks, etc. To move along inclined or vertical planes, through pipes, systems similar to “walking” structures, but with vacuum suction cups, are used.
Robots are also known that use the principles of movement of living organisms - snakes, worms, fish, birds, insects and other types of robots of bionic origin.
Robot Tuna
Pattern recognition system
Recognition systems are already capable of identifying simple three-dimensional objects, their orientation and composition in space, and can also complete missing parts using information from their database (for example, assembling a Lego constructor).
Engines
Currently, motors are commonly used as drives. direct current, stepper motors and servos.
There are developments of engines that do not use motors in their design: for example, the technology of reducing material under the influence of an electric current (or field), which makes it possible to achieve a more accurate correspondence of the robot’s movement to the natural smooth movements of living beings.
Mathematical basis
Aibo robot
In addition to the already widely used neural network technologies, there are self-learning algorithms for the interaction of the robot with surrounding objects in the real three-dimensional world: the robot dog Aibo, under the control of such algorithms, went through the same stages of learning as a newborn baby, independently learning to coordinate the movements of its limbs and interact with surrounding objects (with rattles in the playpen). This provides another example of a mathematical understanding of the algorithms of the work of higher nervous activity in humans.
Navigation
Systems for constructing a model of the surrounding space using ultrasound or scanning with a laser beam are widely used in racing robotic cars (which already successfully and independently pass real city routes and roads on rough terrain, taking into account unexpected obstacles).
Appearance
In Japan, the development of robots that have an appearance that at first glance is indistinguishable from a human does not stop. The technique of simulating emotions and facial expressions of robots is being developed.
In June 2009, scientists at the University of Tokyo introduced the humanoid robot “KOBIAN”, capable of expressing its emotions — happiness, fear, surprise, sadness, anger, disgust — through gestures and facial expressions.
Robot KOBIAN
The robot is able to open and close its eyes, move its lips and eyebrows, and use its arms and legs.
Robot manufacturers
There are companies specializing in the production of robots (among the largest are iRobot Corporation). Robots are also produced by some companies working in the field of high technology: ABB, Honda, Mitsubishi, Sony, World Demanded Electronic, Gostai, KUKA.
Robot exhibitions are held, e.g. the world's largest International robot exhibition (iRex) (held in early November every two years in Tokyo, Japan).
Startups are becoming an increasingly popular option for starting a business. This niche was quickly filled by representatives of a new wave of business - young people approximately 25-30 years old who have their own vision of building a business, as well as many interesting and promising ideas. Among the most successful innovators of our time are many millionaires and even billionaires. But, as a rule, it all started with a small project, which its creators carefully, year after year, protected from competitors and developed. As a reward for these daily efforts - worldwide fame and fabulous income - let us at least remember the creator of the global social Facebook networks– Mark Zuckerberg. However, behind the appearance of easy success lies hard, painstaking work and a whole list of important tasks that must always be resolved. right decisions. Such decisions include: searching for a startup team, an investor who will finance startups, developing a high-quality business plan, etc.
Areas for startups.
Contrary to the popular belief that startups are launched only in the IT sector, a startup company can be opened in almost any segment. The main thing is to develop a truly promising idea that can interest potential investors. However, the trends are such that it is the IT sector that is now developing at the most rapid pace, and there are still many niches left in it that innovators have yet to fill. Only in the last few years in global network Many startup projects have appeared that have been able to achieve real success, just remember Skype or Twitter. That is why we will try to talk about how startup projects are organized specifically in the IT field, especially since they have their own distinctive features.
Internet startups.
These startups are special, and this specificity is given, first of all, by working on the global Internet. For a startup to become successful, you need to be well acquainted with this field of activity and have a clear idea of how the project can be monetized. The peculiarity of the IT business is that it often does not require large financial expenditures; here it is much more important to show professionalism and creativity when developing a business plan and attracting investors. However, despite the specificity of this area, the general laws of business apply here in the same way as in other industries. For a startup project to count on success, it needs to be new, original and, most importantly, to the right people. At the same time, it is not necessary to come up with something fundamentally new, when you can implement existing ideas in an interesting and original way. Any startup project must have its own “zest”, some kind of competitive advantage.
Components of success.
To get support and startup financing, your project must have the following components:
1. A good promising idea. The idea should be as clear and specific as possible so that potential investors can easily understand its meaning and implementation mechanisms.
2. Resources to achieve the goal. Typically, investments in startups become possible only for projects of those innovators who clearly understand how they will put their idea into practice and what tools they will need for this.
3. Financial attractiveness of the project. There are cases when the idea for a startup is very interesting and original, however, it will be very difficult or even impossible to obtain real financial benefits as a result of its implementation. Therefore, it is quite logical that investors prefer to allocate money only to those startup projects that can pay off in short time, even if the business idea is not the most original and new.
Possible risks. When working in the IT field, you should always consider possible risks. Not every startup project ultimately becomes successful; most projects, unfortunately, never reach their target consumer, and this can happen due to various reasons. Various Internet projects compete fiercely with each other, in addition, no one is fully protected from complete or partial copying of information, interesting ideas. Therefore, in the IT field, it is advisable to always be one step ahead of competitors and be ready to show the Internet community new idea, while competitors just copied the old one. Our startup exchange is one of the most popular in Russia; thanks to us, many startup companies have acquired reliable investors. Among our innovators there are a lot of successful people, and they original projects
bring good profits. The success of your business is very important to us!
How many laws of robotics did Isaac Asimov come up with?
The three laws of robotics formulated by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov are widely known: a robot cannot, by its action or inaction, cause harm to a person; the robot must follow human orders, unless this contradicts the first point; the robot must take care of its safety, unless this contradicts the first two points. In 1986, in the novel “Robots and Empire,” Asimov introduced another law, which he called zero, that is, the highest priority: “A robot cannot harm humanity or, by its inaction, allow harm to come to humanity.” It was the zero law that was carried out by the supercomputer in the film “I, Robot”, limiting the freedom of all people.
The stronger the external resemblance of a robot or other object that looks and acts like a person to a real person, the more attractive it seems to us, but only up to a certain limit. When the similarity reaches a certain threshold, the robot begins to seem frightening and repulsive to us, most likely due to minor inconsistencies with reality. The corresponding “dip” in the graph of the dependence of a positive emotional reaction on similarity is called the “uncanny valley” effect. Moreover, animation enhances both positive and negative impressions of the object. Cartoonists have long used this principle, drawing characters that are meant to be sympathetic without being too human.
Who coined the word “robot” and from what word did it come from?
The term “robot” was coined by the Czech writer Karel Capek. Although at first in his play he called humanoid mechanisms “laboratories” (from the Latin “labor” - work), he did not like this word. Then, on the advice of his brother Josef, he renamed them robots. By the way, in Czech, the original word for this neologism “robota” means not just work, but hard work or hard labor.
Where and who are controlled by robot jockeys?
IN eastern countries Camel racing is popular. It is not at all difficult for a jockey to control a camel, so weight is decisive - the lighter the jockey, the more advantage at the couple. This led to the widespread exploitation of boys as young as 4 as riders, who were also often starved to make them gain less weight. Several years ago, the UAE and Qatar banned child labor, which contributed to the development of miniature robotic jockeys controlled by an operator remotely.
