Monday, May 07, 2007

Living Machines.

Of course, I am not a machine; but how & why? Is it all because I am human? But what if, what we consider to be machine too possesses emotions. What if machines starts having the capacity to reason. Humans might be but living beings won't be an exception in this living world.
If we consider an object to be living when it could speak, that could see and understand objects then machines too can do so. It too can analyze the things what it watches (Biometrics is a great success now a days). If something that can learn then machines too can learn & learn well to get the problem solved and of course, store it for future reference. If something that possesses behavior then machine too exhibits behavior depending upon its learning. If something that responds to stimulus then machine too can better do that. It can exhibit stimulus characteristic more perfectly. If something that can reproduce offspring then there are the robots which could even automatically make robots of same kind. If something that stores energy in the form of ATP then, a scientific breakthrough in nanorobotics is, they won't need any other power supply, they extracts energy from ATP while working inside humans body. There are millions of exceptional species in the world of biology not possessing basic characteristics of living though termed as living. Yet if something like we are only living then no species other than humans are living.
If we still stick to the convention then let me be very clear here I am dedicated to robotics not psychology. We should understand robotics or robots are the new species that is just introduced & it had to go further. Remember what the living beings were 450 million years ago. It certainly needs to endeavor to help this species evolve faster & yield a human without any humane demerit.
Machine ; dead, or living!.

Few species are under evolution complementary to Darwin’s consideration. The species that will work computeronically and neurotronically having different anatomy than we possess but is going to be more efficient, more capable, faster and of course does not holds huge paleontological records.

Along with the rules of robotics constructing a superhuman with minimized demerits human owns is what passionate efforts of Robotics are for. One may say this over-ambitiousness, but anything our thesaurus picked out as being synonymous to leap in the optimistic world of science is the result of strong determination and over ambitiousness.
A small peep to future unveils the sparkling days where most of the event will occur, what we consider to be a dream today. Science and technology has taken great leap but most significant is yet to be taken. Putting effort in creating that significance a wonder is created. Zenith; yes, no word other than zenith is placid enough to accommodate the passion and devotion involved During the making of Zenith the technological development introduced; holds the stamina to change the world we confront everyday. The system developed and used on board are Machine vision. Robot speech, Voice-command, Speech recognition, Decision making, Artificial intelligence, Artificial neural network , Path planning algorithm, Face and facial expression detection, Machine learning, Machine behavior, Integrated and coordinated control system among all; mentioned above.
Yes, Zenith is capable to see and understand object. She loves playing and wants to play whenever she watches a ball or anything interesting. But she confirms her wish as:

hey! I can see a ball; can I play with please. Affirmative answer makes her cheer out and she starts playing to her satisfaction with a word thank you. If her request is refused and said “no”; she in lowering tone responds ok sir . Parallel to this its behavior section records a negative point if denied and positive if approved. The memory section stores the whole event for the future reference. In recording the event the interrogation, the answer, current time, present date, magnitude of temperature, Intensity of light, the person she is taking to, are stored. Ultimately learning section draws rational conclusion out of these events which is knowledge for Zenith and this dominates further behavior of her.

Zenith has wonderful co-ordination between vision, speech, its sensors, behavior and memory.
She is capable to converse well with humans. She references series of conversation made in a session, past conversing experience, the physical conditions as time, date, temperature and intensity of light while conversing. I remember a fragment, it was 8 P.M. and I said “Good morning”, Zenith!” and she answered me “what if there is light around; it’s evening, so good evening Diwaker!”. It too exhibits her behavior through expressions as when it gets annoyed by any of your word or act, it might turn front side back bow her head down and shutdown the eye L.E.D’s with purring sound. (The word “might” is used because even I cannot predict what its expression or Answer is going to be).
If you are with a machine compiled of these technologies, you are with Intelligent, more efficient, more disciplined and of course humorous species to work and live with you. The technologies developed and used on board if transplanted to any systems promises remarkable change in consumer electronics, Robotics, Automobiles, weather station Systems, battlefield techniques, civil police working systems, unmanned aerial and territorial security and defense purposes, child education, traffic control, care taking in old days.
A home if equipped with these technologies become smart enough to understand your temperament, your likes and dislikes, your personal details, contact of your friends and relatives, your voice, your face and mood. A home creates much hospitable and environment full of life and laughter in your home referencing huge set of data it gathers out of it’s sensors every moment. To demonstrate this suppose, you came home from your work the door automatically get opened along with the words of welcome. A small robo will escort you to the couch. Room is cooled or heated corresponding the temperature and your physical state. The smart system starts talking to you about your day. It will read new emails and crack jokes too depending on your mood and wish. A robot will bring the drink you prefer. The geyser gets triggered; if you are affirmative to its interrogation, whether you would prefer to bath or not.

Talking to the appliance is made possible for instance, “hey, I need medium intensity light”; the bulb starts glowing to that intensity with an answer, yes sir. If the filament is broken; it says “sorry sir my filament is blown you need to replace me”. Brain microstimulation is a hope leading to new verities of Bio-electronic species Development in Myo-electronics and robotics is going to facilitat handicapped people to regain their parts with same maneuverability. Despite of respiring in 21st century the way events are transpiring in Nepal. The concept on robotics seems not to be of such a high priority but the world technology possesses spectacular exposure above the boundary. Being a part of global arena robotics is an extreme fusion of electronics, computers and physics nowadays even biophysics, neurology and many others are too combined. So, anything that has mechanical hand or head and are controlled pushing switches should not be misunderstood as robots. If they are robots then cranes and excavators are biggest robots.


Diwaker jha
Vice president
National Society of Science
Ecological Society of Janakpur