1:38 AM
BY Chandrahaas0
Comments
Man Vs Machine
Three years ago on august 16 2009, the headlines of a major
newspaper read as follows...
'Lightning
Bolt: The Jamaican shaves off 0.11 seconds of his own record to run 100 m in
9.58!!!'
Well what could this possibly mean to
science? If you are dumb enough to ask a scientist if he can create something
to reproduce the maximum pace (Probably) a human being can, you can expect him
to reply.... "Get outta here! ... Machines exist that can move a million
times faster than any human on earth!" So the next logical question is, are
machines better than humans? At hindsight it might appear so. But my
answer is NOT YET! Machines virtually beat humans at every aspect except
three: Cognitive
thinking, Creativity, and Multitasking*. While the first two
aspects are a little too complex and should be left for the rocket scientists
to deal with, Multitasking I believe can be achieved just by learning from
nature and a little bit of common sense.
Let's take the case of Usain Bolt. The
same super strong physical frame that he utilizes to achieve such great speeds,
he also uses for basic everyday tasks like Swimming, Writing, and yeah to take
his girlfriend out for a drink. Though these tasks appear to be simple, the
ability of the human body to learn and perform these gazillion tasks within its
seemingly huge physical limitations is what makes it such an efficient machine!
It is a safe bet to say
that the greatest revolutions brought about by the Computer boom of the 20th
century are Automation and the usage of robots instead of humans. That being
the case, 2.3 Million people still lose their lives every year because of
'Harsh Working Conditions', by far the most lethal. Compare this to the 75
people who are killed each year due to Shark attacks. Ironically while very few
people are scared about going to work, the very mention of a shark scares the hell
out of a majority of us!!...But on a serious note, the main reason for is:
We have become experts at creating Bots capable of performing one single task
or multiple similar tasks but still strangely are in the nascent stage of
creating Bots that perform completely different tasks. For example: Even the
most advanced robot which is used to fit transistors to pin point accuracy in a
micro processor will have no idea what to do if a fire occurs nearby or worse,
if it itself catches fire! This has meant that even though we have come to heavily
rely upon these machines, we don't trust them yet. That's the reason why the
question 'What if something goes wrong?' still lingers in the minds of even the
best of scientists who are aboard a completely automated flight, even till
date.
So to have any
realistic chance of reducing this frittering away of human life, we've got to
equip our robots with the ability to multitask and heal themselves in real time
(If you are thinking what I'm thinking, Yes this is not something new, the
genius of James Cameron depicted this two decades back in the Terminator
series).
But why haven't these
complex multitasking machines taken off yet? Consider this example. Four years
back Swiss car designing company Rinspeed.Inc created a James Bond style car
which can be driven underwater (literally). It was conceived to revolutionize
transport in the forthcoming years. But it hasn't. The
Reason: Yeah,
the technology and the science behind developing the car is mind-boggling to
say the least. But the car uses two completely different mechanisms for
underwater and road transport, thereby making it costlier and complex. Compare
this to a man. He uses the same sets of limbs for swimming and walking. While
this might make him rather inefficient at both, this ability to multi task
within the limited frame also makes him highly adaptable to varied
environments.
The Solution: The
humanoids I think are a great idea. Here's why! We have highly modified the
world we live in to suit our human needs. The problem of compatibility arises
if we choose to ignore this salient fact in creating our robots. Providing the
robots with tools that'll enable them to adapt to different environments and
different tasks will be absolutely vital in making them cost effective and task
sensitive. On the flipside of the coin, maintaining the centre of gravity on a
two legged structure is an enormous task. A task so difficult that scientists
refer to the seemingly simple task of walking as 'controlled falling'.
The question
might arise in the mind of the reader as to why can’t we try and improve the
working conditions instead of all this. My answer: Yes. It is very much
possible to improve the working conditions and thereby substantially minimize
the risks involved. But it is practically impossible to completely eliminate
the risk factor. Consider this example. Hundreds of thousands of miners are
expected to work in an extremely high risk environment on a daily basis. Their
nature of work means that it is virtually impossible to eliminate the risk of
injuries/death. But without mining, the world would come to a standstill…
Literally!!
On a
concluding note......I'm not far off from entering the work environment and as
a result the squandering of human life due to poor working conditions make me
doubly worried! Difficult as it may seem, it is essential to learn from
nature and create these humanoids to at least partially mitigate the silent
carnage of human life occuring every year. The urgent and quintessential
need for creating an efficient humanoid far outweighs the challenges in
creating it. The cost factor might prove to be a deterrent at the initial
stages of development. But I believe that if we do succeed in creating robots
with human-like abilities in a not-too-complex manner, in the long run the laws
of mass manufacturing will kick-in and reduce it significantly.
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