Category: Robotics

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Disabling Autonomous Vehicles

“Anti-car activists have come up with a novel and effective way of disabling driverless vehicles owned by Waymo and Cruise in San Francisco: placing traffic cones on their hoods. It’s the work of a group called Safe Streets Rebel, which has launched a protest dubbed ‘Week of Cone’.” (Techspot, 11 July 2023) This was reported by Techspot on 11 July 2023. Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel has been pointing out for several years that automated and autonomous cars can be crippled in a simple way. On 6 March 2018, in an article in a Swiss IT journal, he asked, “Does autonomous driving fail because of manipulated sensors?” … A thesis by his student M. Hashem Birahjakli then systematically compiled and examined methods and means. A blog post about it states: “The results of the work suggest that every 14-year-old girl or boy could disable a self-driving car. So far, hacking has been seen as the greatest threat to autonomous driving. But while not everyone can hack, almost everyone carries chewing gum or lipstick. The automotive industry should consider this threat seriously.” The operator Waymo reacts helplessly to the actions. According to the German magazine Golem, a press spokesman emphasized that the traffic cone action shows a lack of understanding of how autonomous vehicles work and is vandalism. In fact, the activists know very well how autonomous vehicles work. And that is precisely the problem.

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The Rise of the Humanoid Robots

If a report in Wired is to be believed, humanoid robotics has entered a decisive phase. The editor describes the case of Figure AI. This company from Sunnyvale, CA is building a humanoid robot for warehouse work and recently announced $70 million in investment funding. Chief Technology Officer Jerry Pratt is one of the key figures. “Pratt says his company’s robot is taking its first steps around a mocked-up warehouse in Sunnyvale, California. Brett Adcock, Figure’s CEO, reckons it should be possible to build humanoids at the same cost of making a car, providing there is enough demand to ramp up production.” (Wired, 25 May 2023) According to Wired, Figure AI is not the only company betting that humanoid robots are maturing. “Others include 1X, Apptronik, and Tesla.” (Wired, 25 May 2023) Tesla’s Optimus recently made an appearance on stage that was much more convincing than the first. By the way, it looks similar to the Figure AI model. Improvements in the robots can be seen in motor skills, but also in perception and control. Language models like PaLM-E could play an important role here in the future.

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Robots in Hawai’i – Part 7

Mauna Kea volcano is the highest mountain in the world, measured from the bottom of the sea. It is considered a sacred place in the culture of Hawai’i. In this context, the famous and important telescopes on the top are always the cause of bitter disputes. The operation of drones is also not allowed on the mountain. However, a small robot made it on it in 2008. This was reported by several media outlets, including Science Daily. “During the field experiment, Nov. 1-13, the robot called Scarab will simulate a lunar mission to extract water, hydrogen, oxygen and other compounds that could potentially be mined for use by future lunar explorers. The four-wheeled robot will trek to different sites, using a Canadian-built drill to obtain a one-meter geologic core at each site. Each core will be chemically analyzed by on-board instruments developed by NASA.” (Science Daily, 14 October 2008) After that, it became increasingly difficult for robots to climb Mauna Kea. It is easier for scientists and tourists, who only need 4-wheel drive and robust health.

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Robots in Hawai’i – Part 2

Ruby Tuesday is a popular restaurant in Hawaii (Hawaiian: Hawai’i), on the island of O’ahu. The location close to the airport is not one of the most beautiful ones. The food is also not praised by everyone. But the restaurant is known for its artificial staff. “Our KEENON DINERBOT is helping the staff here deliver trays and plates, so that they can pay more attention to improving customer satisfaction.” This is the message in a promotional video from Keenon Robotics in Singapore. The robot is a classic transport and serving robot. It has large, square blue eyes. In Europe and Asia, BellaBot is best known. It has a cat face and cat ears and is controlled via user input and voice commands. The European model Plato is also shaking up the market. Khon2, a platform from Hawaii, first reported on the new employee at Ruby Tuesday in 2022. “Staffing is such a problem now. Everything from managers down to servers and kitchen help cooks so this really helps our servers out,” Ruby Tuesday owner Rick Nakashima told Khon2 journalists. Indeed, robots of this kind seem to be at least a band-aid for the shortage of skilled workers. Customers’ reactions vary. Some seem to find the robots entertaining. Others say that direct contact with waiters is important to them. The restaurant emphasises that the robot is not intended to replace waiters. Rather, the robot acts as a support.

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Robots in Hawai’i – Part 1

Hawaii (Hawaiian: Hawai’i) is not necessarily associated with robots. But in the larger cities, you can be sure to encounter them. There are service robots such as the Keenon Dinerbot and surgical robots such as the da Vinci Surgical System. In addition, robots are used in the wild, for example for nature conservation. The hospital group in the east of the archipelago advertises with the following words: “East Hawaii Health Clinics is excited to introduce our fully operational robotic surgery center. This state-of-the-art equipment allows us to perform minimally invasive surgeries that would otherwise require greater surgery time and recovery time. We look forward to continuing to provide East Hawaii with exceptional surgical options.” (Website East Hawaii Health Clinics) This type of care is available in Hilo, among other places. The small town on the Big Island has the latest medical technology, such as that used in Basel and Berlin. Hilo is surrounded by tropical rainforest. Nearby are Akaka Falls and Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. In the city itself, giant banyan trees grow. One must not forget the many homeless people who are at the end of their tether. Like California, Hawai’i has not dealt with this problem. These people will never be able to afford treatment with a surgical robot.

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Mind-controlled Four-legged Robot

“Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed biosensor technology that will allow you to operate devices, such as robots and machines, solely through thought-control.” (UTS, 20 March 2023) This was reported by UTS on its website on March 20, 2023. The brain-machine interface was developed by Chin-Teng Lin and Francesca Iacopi (UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT) in collaboration with the Australian Army and Defence Innovation Hub. “The user wears a head-mounted augmented reality lens which displays white flickering squares. By concentrating on a particular square, the brainwaves of the operator are picked up by the biosensor, and a decoder translates the signal into commands.” (UTS, 20 March 2023) According to the website, the technology was demonstrated by the Australian Army, where selected soldiers operated a quadruped robot using the brain-machine interface. “The device allowed hands-free command of the robotic dog with up to 94% accuracy.” (UTS, 20 March 2023) The paper “Noninvasive Sensors for Brain–Machine Interfaces Based on Micropatterned Epitaxial Graphene” can be accessed at pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsanm.2c05546.

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Little Teacher

Alpha Mini is a social robot characterized by small size (and thus good transportability) and extensive natural language and motor skills. It can be used in school lessons, both as a teacher and tutor and as a tool with which to program. On March 8, 2023, a new project started at the School of Business FHNW, in which Alpha Mini plays a leading role. The initiator is Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel, who has been researching conversational agents and social robots for a quarter of a century. Andrin Allemann is contributing to the project as part of his final thesis. Alpha Mini will be integrated into a learning environment and will be able to interact and communicate with other components such as a display. It is to convey simple learning material with the help of pictures and texts and motivate the children through gestural and mimic feedback. So this is a little teacher with great possibilities. In principle, it should comply with the new Swiss federal law on data protection (neues Datenschutzgesetz, nDSG). The project will last until August 2023, after which the results will be published.

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The Latest Findings in Social Robotics

The proceedings of ICSR 2022 were published in early 2023. Included is the paper “The CARE-MOMO Project” by Oliver Bendel and Marc Heimann. From the abstract: “In the CARE-MOMO project, a morality module (MOMO) with a morality menu (MOME) was developed at the School of Business FHNW in the context of machine ethics. This makes it possible to transfer one’s own moral and social convictions to a machine, in this case the care robot with the name Lio. The current model has extensive capabilities, including motor, sensory, and linguistic. However, it cannot yet be personalized in the moral and social sense. The CARE-MOMO aims to eliminate this state of affairs and to give care recipients the possibility to adapt the robot’s ‘behaviour’ to their ideas and requirements. This is done in a very simple way, using sliders to activate and deactivate functions. There are three different categories that appear with the sliders. The CARE-MOMO was realized as a prototype, which demonstrates the functionality and aids the company in making concrete decisions for the product. In other words, it can adopt the morality module in whole or in part and further improve it after testing it in facilities.” The book (part II of the proceedings) can be downloaded or ordered via link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-24670-8.

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Atlas Finally has Hands

“Boston Dynamics just released the latest demo of its humanoid robot, Atlas. The robot could already run and jump over complex terrain thanks to its feet. Now, the robot has hands, per se. These rudimentary grippers give the robot new life. Suddenly, instead of being an agile pack mule, the Atlas becomes something closer to a human, with the ability to pick up and drop off anything it can grab independently.” (TechCrunch, January 18, 2023) This was reported by TechCrunch on January 18, 2023. Hands are actually very important for Atlas. The humanoid robot could now pick up or move heavy objects on a construction site. But it could also take care of trapped or injured animals in a nature park, freeing them or providing them with food and water. Such visions have been described by robot ethicist and machine ethicist Oliver Bendel for some time. A video released on January 18, 2023 shows the grippers picking up construction lumber and a nylon tool bag. “Next, the Atlas picks up a 2×8 and places it between two boxes to form a bridge. The Atlas then picks up a bag of tools and dashes over the bridge and through construction scaffolding. But the tool bag needs to go to the second level of the structure – something Atlas apparently realized and quickly throws the bag a considerable distance.” (TechCrunch, January 18, 2023) At the end of the video, Atlas does a somersault and then extends its hand – its brand new hand – triumphantly.

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About Robots in Policing

In January 2023, the Proceedings of Robophilosophy 2022 were published. Included is the paper “Robots in Policing” by Oliver Bendel. From the abstract: “This article is devoted to the question of how robots are used in policing and what opportunities and risks arise in social terms. It begins by briefly explaining the characteristics of modern police work. It puts service robots and social robots in relation to each other and outlines relevant disciplines. The article also lists types of robots that are and could be relevant in the present context. It then gives examples from different countries of the use of robots in police work and security services. From these, it derives the central tasks of robots in this area and their most important technical features. A discussion from social, ethical, and technical perspectives seeks to provide clarity on how robots are changing the police as a social institution and with social actions and relationships, and what challenges need to be addressed.” (Abstract) Robots in policing is a topic that has not received much attention. However, it is likely to become considerably more topical in the next few years. More information about the conference on cas.au.dk/en/robophilosophy/conferences/rpc2022 (Photo: Anna Jarske-Fransas).