Interesting historical facts about robots. Interesting facts about the most famous robots
Interesting fact: the first mention of a robot (as a word) was in a play by Czech Capek Karel. The play was called "R.U.R." It talked about how robots assembled themselves in a factory. In 1920, the play was successfully staged and created a real sensation. Interestingly, in Czech the word “robot” means “hard labor” or “hard work.” And the words “work” and “robot” have the same root.
Interesting fact: the very first real robot was born in 1927 in New York. It was designed by a scientist named D. Wixley for the World Exhibition. For the beginning of the twentieth century, the robot was certainly good. It could carry out simple but effective commands, as well as reproduce certain phrases upon command from a person.
Interesting fact: in 1981 there was the first victim caused by a robot! Moreover, it was officially recognized. Kawasaki plant worker Kenji Urada died on the spot. The robot, which was among the smallest and remains there to this day, was designed by the Japanese company Seiko Epson. The robot is only one centimeter long and weighs no more than one and a half grams.
Interesting fact: On March 18, 2008, a man living in Australia committed suicide. But not just like that, but with the help of a robot that he assembled himself thanks to diagrams from the Internet.
Today, robots can perform absolutely any function. Up to plastic surgery. For example, an annual robot football tournament has been held for several years.
Interesting fact: the first person to draw a drawing of a humanoid robot was Leonardo da Vinci. His records were discovered in the 50s of the last century and dated back to 1495. The most interesting thing is that the drawings are applicable in practice. The drawings fully describe a mechanical knight, capable of extending his arms, opening his visor and sitting.
Interesting fact: a robot created for playing chess and called Deep Blue defeated the then current world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
Isaac Asimov (by the way, originally from Belarus), a writer and scientist, formulated three main laws on the basis of which robots should act. What’s most surprising is that they are more relevant than ever with the development of technology.
So, the first “law of robotics” states that a robot must not cause harm to a person, and also must not allow harm to come to him through inaction. And this is really very important, since history is replete with events where people have lost limbs or even lives due to robotics. The second law is even more relevant: a robot must follow human orders only if they do not contradict the first law. The third law states that a robot must monitor its safety as long as it does not contradict the first or second law.
Interesting fact: today the Institute for Singularity Studies in the United States is studying the problems that may arise if robots are not initially programmed to be friendly towards humans. After all, everyone knows how technology can affect a person - not in a favorable way.
Video: the most unusual and amazing robots
Completely unnoticed, humanity has entered the era of “smart machines.” Some people see robots as a threat to the future of our civilization, others believe that further development it is impossible without them. Time will tell who is right, but in any case it’s good to know what we’re dealing with. Over the almost century-long history of relations between man and machine, a lot has happened, so we present you the most interesting facts about robots.
Fact 1: The word “robot” is of Czech origin. It comes from the word robota, which means hard work, hard labor. This concept was first used by the Czech writer Karel Capek in his science fiction play R.U.R (1920). In it, it denoted artificially created organic people, used by humanity to perform particularly difficult and dangerous work. By the way, this was one of the first works in which the topic of a mass uprising of “robots” was raised.
Fact 2: Robots that are very human-like are more frightening than robots that are dissimilar. In 1978, Japanese robotics engineer Masahiro Mori discovered an interesting pattern: people’s sympathy for machines grew as they “humanized” them to a certain limit - then it dropped sharply and became high again only for models indistinguishable from us. On the graph, this dependence formed an increasing curve with a sharp “ravine”, for which it received the name “uncanny valley”. The exact reasons for this phenomenon have not been established. According to the most common version, a robot that looks like a person, having a slight flaw in appearance, facial expressions and movements, is perceived by us as a fake or an animated corpse.
Fact 3: Robot-like mechanisms are a very old invention. The first prototypes of robots (automata) appeared in the Age of Enlightenment. Historical facts testify to the technology developed at that time for creating zoo- and anthropomorphic devices based on a clock mechanism. Moreover, some models could be programmed to commit certain actions. Thus, the “Writer” created in the 18th century by watchmaker Jacques Droz had a rotating disk with retractable pegs, by combining which it was possible to force him to write small texts with different contents.
Fact 4: isolated “machine uprisings” are already a reality. In 1979, a one-ton robotic arm killed a Ford plant worker when he tried to “help” it move materials. Another incident occurred as recently as 2015 at a Volkswagen plant in Germany, when an industrial robot crushed a staff member against a steel plate. It is noteworthy that this incident was reported by a journalist named Sarah O'Connor, which caused a strong reaction among fans of the Terminator film series. In defense of the robots, it must be said that in both cases the cause of the accident was a human violation of safety regulations.
Fact 5: The first ever fight between humanoid robots took place. On October 17, 2017, on the territory of an abandoned Japanese factory, a fight between two large mechanisms controlled by people took place. The Land of the Rising Sun was represented by the Kuratas robot from the Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industry, while the USA was represented by Iron Glory and Eagle Prime from the American MegaBots. The vehicles were armed with manipulators, powerful rams, a paint-shooting cannon, a chainsaw and other devices. However, despite such weapons, the first battle of “huge combat humanoid robots” was extremely boring, so fans of mechs and the Battletech series will be disappointed.
Fact 6: The first robot received civil rights. Legislative initiatives regulating ethics in the field of robotics have been developed for quite some time in the EU, Japan, South Korea, Russia and other developed countries. However, robots were first given civil rights only recently in Saudi Arabia. At a conference in Riyadh on October 26, 2017, an android (gynoid) named Sophia was granted citizenship of this country, for which she immediately thanked the authorities. It is curious that in this Muslim state it is strictly forbidden for foreign workers, who make up a third of the population, to become citizens.
Fact 7: The first robo-rock band appeared. Engineers from Germany have created an unusual musical quartet consisting of robots. A four-armed drummer, a 78-fingered guitarist, a bass player on a crawler platform and a small mechanical assistant justify the heavy metal genre with their entire appearance. The group, called "Compressorheads", first appeared on stage together with the group RHCP and amazed the audience not only with their playing skills, but also with their traditionally "rock" presentation. Today his repertoire includes covers of such monsters as Led Zeppellin, Metallica, as well as his own works.
These and other interesting facts about robots clearly indicate that “intelligent machines” are becoming much more than just working tools and assistants. Once again we are watching how the fiction of science fiction writers imperceptibly turns into the most everyday reality.
The modern world is moving forward, opening up new perspectives in science. Now one of them is robotics.
Scary robots, cyborgs, androids appeared on cinema screens. And for the most part, in the mass consciousness they began to be perceived as aggressors.
Is this how things really are?
1. Origin
The word "robot" is essentially of Slavic origin. It was formed from the Czech robota. The author is Karel Capek. But he is not a researcher at all. In fact, this word was used in his play "R.U.R." Robots were synthetic human servants of a non-mechanical nature.
2. Androids
The first person to try androids was the Japanese Hiroshi Ishiguro. He specializes in building robots that are as similar to people as possible: with a realistic appearance, smooth facial expressions, and voice. He called them "geminoids" (from the Latin Geminis - twins).
His dream is to own his own remotely controlled robot, which every self-respecting person would have. This idea has been compared to the science fiction film "Surrogates". Moreover, Ishiguro was the consultant for this film.
A funny and extremely explosive case is the trick of Ishiguro, who tried to send his android to give a lecture in his place. The robot, of course, was not allowed on the plane, which greatly upset his owner.
3. Uncanny Valley
Japanese researcher Masahiro Mori studied the fear of humanoid robots. It was he who discovered the empirical law known as the “Uncanny Valley” in 1978. Based on the results of his survey, he found that the more a robot resembles a person, the more attractive it seems to us - but only up to a certain point. A robot that is very similar to a person, but has various flaws, frightens a person, because it feels like we are facing a half-dead zombie.
The decline in the attractiveness graph that was built by the researcher is called the “Uncanny Valley.” This behavior poses a problem for developers of humanoid robots. They have only two options: make robots that are not very human-like, for example, the French robot NAO, or make high-quality androids.
4. Soft robots
As a result of the problems described above by one of the fashion trends modern robotics soft robots have become. No, they are not made of cotton wool. These are robots with soft body parts, such as crawler robots. But it will take time to create such robots. It is necessary to bring the small mechanism as close as possible to the original, living one, and it will also require the use of unusual materials: plastic, rubber and even an alloy with a memory effect.
5. Robofootball
Over time, robots really begin to resemble people and also adopt their hobbies. Thus, the robofootball association appeared, which declared as its goal the victory of a team of robots over a team of people in 2050. But this year is still far away, but for now the regular championships of robot football players look very funny and cute. The players move very slowly, constantly tripping, dropping each other, like little children. But they do it completely autonomously, and this can already be called a major success.
6. Home robot
Big development recent years became a two-armed home robot from Willow Garage. It costs a decent amount - $400,000. In 2011, 11 such robots were sent as a result of a competition to leading institutes around the world, where developments for it became open to everyone. As a result, the robot was taught to fetch beer from the refrigerator, open the door, ride in the elevator, play billiards, which was to be expected from gifted students. The robot programmed at the Berkeley Institute (California) stood out from everyone. Their robot can fold and arrange a towel neatly, but it takes 25 minutes to do so.
7. Robots in society
Robots are increasingly becoming available to society. Thus, the Robotics Without Borders company recently introduced a new robot - an analogue of PR2. Its cost is only 35 thousand dollars. True, it has only one arm and is made from cheaper materials. An important question remains. Why is it needed at all then?
8. Software
In connection with the release of robots to the masses, the development of software for them. Thus, over the past 5 years, special OS for robots - ROS, Urbi, NAO OS. They are usually based on Linux. What is frightening and surprising is that they include modules for vision, speech, and interaction with the mechanics of the robot. Appear and special applications for robots - AppStore and Google Market. All that remains is to buy your own pet.
As already mentioned, in Russia robotics is not given enough attention. However, we are holding a robotics exhibition in Skolkovo. But this year there was not a single Skolkovo development; the program was mainly led by foreign scientists. Maybe the authorities will pay attention to this lagging industry, however, the reduction in Russian universities continues budget places for specialties related to robotics and artificial intelligence. Well... maybe our underground scientists are actually working day and night to one day surprise the whole world.
The word “robot” itself appeared thanks to the famous Czech writer Karel Capek, who wrote the science fiction play “R.U.R.” in 1920. - "Rossum's Universal Robots." At first, Capek wanted to call mechanical creatures “laboratories” (from Latin word“labor” - work), but this word did not seem very suitable to him. Josef, the writer's brother, recommended another name for him - “robot”, derived from the Czech “robota”, which means hard hard labor (such as what the humanoid machines did in the play “R.U.R.”). The name turned out to be successful and has become firmly established in most languages of the world. Although, to be precise, the creatures from Capek’s work are, rather, androids.
The world's first drawing of a robot resembling a human being was created by Leonardo da Vinci at the end of the 15th century. In the 1950s, papers of the great inventor were found, among which were detailed diagram creating a mechanical knight. Artificial man, designed by da Vinci, could stand, sit, move his arms, nod his head and open/close the visor of his helmet. Unfortunately, it is still unknown whether Leonardo built a working model of the robot or whether it remained only on paper.
The first “talking” robot, able to make simple movements and pronounce certain phrases on a human command, appeared in 1927. Its creator, D. Wexley, designed it specifically for the World Exhibition, which was then held in New York.
The German heavy metal band “Compressorhead” has one interesting feature: all four musicians included in it are robots who quite successfully play “human” instruments.
Currently, 15 thousand robots “serve” in the armies of the world: 10 thousand ground-based and 5 thousand flying.
From June 21 to June 23, 2010, the First Olympic Games of Android Robots were held in China. Robots from different countries competed in various types sports, from football to drumming. True, some types, for example, roboboxing, do not yet seem interesting to viewers - the “athletes” participating in them are too slow!
Killer robots don't only exist in science fiction action films. The first person to die at the hands of a robot was Robert Williams. In 1979, he worked at the Ford Motors plant loading parts. When the robotic forklift suddenly broke down, Robert tried to fix it himself. Suddenly the robot “came to life,” swung its manipulator, and smashed the worker’s head. Two years later, an engineer named Kenji Urada died at the Kawasaki plant due to a broken robot. It is interesting that it is Urada that many consider to be the first victim of robots, while forgetting about the unfortunate Williams.
In some countries in the Middle East, robots have saved children from backbreaking labor. The fact is that in countries like the UAE or Qatar, camel racing is very popular. It is very easy for a jockey to control a well-trained camel, so in the past 4-year-old children were often hired as riders, because they weigh less than adults. The worst thing is that the children were often deliberately forced to starve so that it would be easier for the camels to carry them on their backs. Fortunately, child riders have now been replaced by miniature remote-controlled robotic jockeys.
There is an interesting concept in psychology called the “uncanny valley effect.” It lies in the fact that people perceive humanoid robots with sympathy, but only to a certain limit. When robots become too human-like in appearance, they begin to seem disgusting and scary to us because of small but significant differences. It is precisely because of the “uncanny valley effect” that cartoonists try to portray positive characters as not too similar to people. Otherwise the children will be afraid!
Nor is there one last interesting fact: if you enter the phrase “about:robots” in address bar in the browser Mozilla Firefox, then you can read the robots’ message to people!
The Rossum Universal Robot is the first robot to be called a robot. The word robot, derived from robota (forced labor), was coined by the Czech artist Josef Capek; his brother Karel picked up the idea and used it in his 1921 play R.U.R. Which, by the way, tells about the uprising of humanoid robots against human slave owners.
In 1950, a key event took place in the history of robotics and science fiction - a collection of stories by Isaac Asimov “I, Robot” was published, where the author first formulated the famous Three Laws of Robotics:
"1. A robot cannot cause harm to a person or, through inaction, allow a person to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey all orders given by a human unless those orders conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must take care of its safety to the extent that this does not contradict the First and Second Laws.”
Until 1977, it was believed that people’s sympathy could only be aroused by humanoid robot. After " Star Wars" everything has changed. In the cohort of the main characters of the space movie saga there is an inseparable couple of droids: protocol interpreter C3PO and astronavigator R2-D2. Heroes of the Rebellion against the Empire and brave men. Moreover, while performing feats, C3PO constantly grumbles and laments, and R2-D2 blames him for this.
The T-800, who knew no pity, the Terminator, who seemed invulnerable, was destroyed by a weak woman. The second time, the Terminator returned, reprogrammed, to protect her son from the even more terrible T-1000. What a pity that the T-800 understood why people cry just a minute before self-destruction...
OCP has turned the brain of deceased police officer Alex Murphy into the control center of a humanoid mechanism. This is how an iron guy named RoboCop appeared - a servant of society, a defender of the innocent and a strict lawman. By the way, in 2014 the remake of the very first film “RoboCop” will premiere.
Officer Bishop on the military spaceship Sulaco is revealed to be the android Bishop 341-B. Which makes Helen Ripley hostile towards him. However, subsequent events on planet LV-426, which are shown in the film Aliens, lead Ripley to believe that Bishop strictly follows the Three Laws. The synthetic man behaves decisively and heroically.
A boy who actually turns out to be a robot who dreams of becoming a human? Why not? One of the most beloved children's characters is Elektronik, who passed " test trials"in the most difficult" field conditions" - in Soviet high school. Moreover, competing with the living original - Sergei Syroezhkin.
A robot can also be a hero with the prefix “anti”. An incomparable example is Bender from the animated series “Futurama”. He drinks and smokes cigars, curses at the top of his lungs, and suffers from kleptomania. During the series, he proved himself to be a notorious egoist, cynic and misanthrope. But when an emergency happens, Bender is the first to panic.
“My brain is the size of an entire planet, but I’m rarely allowed to use it.” This is the paranoid robot Marvin from the movie "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." He is a walking textbook for the study of manic-depressive psychosis in all its manifestations. In the film, Marvin performs a heroic act, as they say, without regaining consciousness.
