We've seen tons of movies featuring robots... But has Hollywood depicted the reality of robots or are they just some phony science-fiction?
I am sure everyone has seen some sort of movie that has association with robotics... Before we begin to question whether Robotics is just some mere pseudo-science or reality... Let's look at a couple of movies that are well-known and had robots in them-
1)I,Robot
2)Wall-E
3)Frank and Robot
4)Transformers 1,2,3
5)The Terminator series.
6)Robocop
In recent years, robotics has become a common
theme of science fiction films. These films have often given us the perception
that robots are highly sophisticated, intelligent and capable of autonomy. But
have their representation of the nature of robotics been authentic? Not
exactly, according to most roboticists.
To a certain extent in today’s world, there are
robots that have the capacity of performing tasks that robots did in the film I,
Robot. The Roomba, a domestic robot that vacuums without much need for human aid,
is autonomous and its introduction heralded the increasing involvement of
robots in our daily lives. However, they are certainly in no way capable of high
intelligence or learning, as their logic are mostly pre-programmed.
Most
science fiction movies faithfully followed the three laws of robotics set out
by Isaac Asimov, a pioneer of robotic science fiction in the 20th
century, but researchers in the Robotics Industry later found out, the three
laws are impractical and unrealistic due to the current limitation of robots.
“I,
Robot” is a neo-noir film based on the 1950 novel by Isaac Asimov and faithfully
surrounded its plot around his three laws. Set in Chicago near the
not-too-distant future, where robots had became a part of daily life, a police
detective tasked with solving the suspected murder of a scientist accidentally discovers
a lurking conspiracy plotted by a self-conscious AI and attempts to prevent the
robot takeover from happening. The pivotal, or controversial moment of the movie
was when viewers were introduced to Sonny, a robot that is capable of feeling,
independent from AI control. The movie illustrated a number of hotly contested
themes surrounding robotics: authenticity of relationships between humans and
machines, unintended consequences from the invention of highly intelligent
robots, as well as the ethical issues of introducing robots into our lives.
“Where’s My Robot”, a documentary by BBC however,
challenges the prospect of any authenticity in human and machine relationships.
As Gerald M. Edelman, a Nobel Laureate demonstrated in the coffee experiment, the
complexity of cognition meant that ”no robot today” could actually be able to
actually make sense of any task without pre-coding. Asimov’s laws are corollaries
from the assumption that robots would be highly intelligent and have some form
of self-consciousness. The documentary proves his third law, at least if not
the others and the perception that robots are highly intelligent as wrong.
On the
other hand, topics such as unintended consequences from the invention of robots
as well as the ethical issues with robots are in some sense, are relevant to
robotics today. “Robot and Frank” is an excellent example of a film that
explores these two topics with a story between an aging thief with dementia and
a domestic robot, programmed to provide him therapeutic care.
In the film, Frank, the old thief later
realized that the robot is not programmed to differentiate legal and criminal
activities and, unsurprisingly, turned the robot into his accomplice in theft. The
design and function of the robot from the film was inspired by Honda’ ASIMO,
unlike most movies, the technology that was exhibited was more authentic and again,
the film intentionally shaped its plot around the three laws of robotics to
challenge our notion of quaint relationship with technology and to show that
Asimov’s laws are flawed.
According
to an article at Space.com, Robotic development industries such as NASA have
stopped developing robots under these three laws due to their uncertainty of
the capabilities of the robots and when things get out of hand, human
assistance is needed and therefore, humans should hold ultimate responsibility
over robots. There were ethical issues raised as well, as robot cists continue
to develop new products, they could create a machine that ends up injuring
humans and would not think that they are liable by declaring it as an accident.
One could never fathom that a simple domestic robot could suddenly be manipulated
into a jewel-stealing thief, here the film once again addresses that robot
cists should be responsible.
The 2010
TV series Terminator Sarah Conner Chronicles suggests the possibility that a
human-robot relationship can be authentic and intricate.
Set between a dystopian, I controlled future and
the contemporary times, Cameron Philips, a humanoid robot that has been
designed to infiltrate the resistance movement, has been reprogrammed and
teleported back to 1999 to protect John Connor, the future leader of the resistance
from being killed by a terminator sent by Skynet. Cameron had many distinct features,
which separated her from the other terminators. She could feel and could override
a command by skynet,which meant that she had “free will”. Her relationship with
John Connor was intricate, with her showing concern when John was hurt. It
brings one to wonder whether any sort of relationship between robots can be
formed. There is ample evidence to suggest that there’s a presence of a
relationship between humans and machines in today’s world. Obviating from the
certain unrealistic portrayal of robots here, the film had actually addressed
certain topics, which have been argued by many people- the authenticity of a
robot to human relationship.
According
to an online post by Bert Oliver and Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together, there
seems to be a big moral problem that exists when humans and robots form a
relationship. Though robots today are incapable of autonomy, they are capable
of performing socializing tasks at a very rudimentary level with human
assistance. The Actroid DER, as illustrated in the article, could converse with
people at a basic level. But many people believe that robots, however
sophisticated should never form a relationship with humans, given by the fact
that they are incapable of sharing human experiences or emotions. But the
terminator series interestingly though, challenged this view with Cameron
Phillips.
Not all children's science fiction films are necessarily
Wall-E was a film that took place in 2185, where Earth is polluted and humans have fled Earth,leaving robots called Wall-E to clean the planet. A lot of content from the movie is coherent to the contemporary issues as well as the role that current robots usually play: Serving the clearly defined tasks e.g. manufacturing... But with the advent of A.I. and issues such as pollution, robots may as well play a role in the effort against Global Warming ,perhaps in the near future.Their ability to work in dangerous environments such as the deep sea or mining sites makes them well suited for the task. In fact, According to How Stuff Works" Top 5 Green Robots". Roboticist's are currently designing robots that could observe the severity of global warming as well as geo-engingerring to stop the climate from worsening.
So in conclusion, it's mostly bogus, but the issues or themes that it addresses are mostly real and therefore, NO.It's not entirely science fiction.
