ROBOPHILOSOPHY

May 1, 2021May 1, 2021

AI for Elephant Protection

According to Afrik21, Olga Isupova (University of Bath) has just developed an AI system that allows to photograph and analyse large areas. Coupled with a satellite, it is designed to monitor African elephants, which are being decimated by poachers at the rate of one every 15 minutes. “The system collects nearly 5,000 square kilometres (km2) of photos highlighting elephants. The large size of African elephants makes them easier to spot. The results provided by the tool are then compared with those provided by human counting.” (Afrik21, 28 April 2021) Olga Isupova lists a number of advantages: “The programme counts the number of elephants by itself, which no longer puts the people who used to do this task in danger. The animals are no longer disturbed and the data collection process is more efficient …” (Afrik21, 28 April 2021) According to Afrik21, the AI expert intends to further develop her invention and eventually extend it to monitoring footprints, animal colonies or counting smaller species. The article can be accessed via www.afrik21.africa/en/africa-artificial-intelligence-to-combat-elephant-poaching/.

May 1, 2021May 1, 2021

Basic Rights for Primates

The initiative “Grundrechte für Primaten” (“Basic Rights for Primates”) went online with its website on April 30, 2021. The supporters demand the introduction of basic rights for non-human primates at cantonal constitutional level in Basel-Stadt. Among them are Simon Fankhauser (co-president Young Green Alliance), Dr. Charlotte E. Blattner (lawyer), Prof. Dr. Markus Wild (philosopher), Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel (ethicist and business information systems scientist), Jaël Malli (musician), and Dr. Colin Goldner (head of the Great Ape Project Germany). Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel goes particularly far in his requests: “I am for human rights for humans and for animal rights for animals. Basic rights such as the right to life and the right to physical integrity should go to all primates, but also to other mammals as well as reptiles and amphibians. The idea is not to protect animals from other animals, but from humans.” He combines animal ethics and animal welfare with machine ethics and develops animal-friendly machines with his teams. The initiative’s website can be reached at www.primaten-initiative.ch.

April 23, 2021April 23, 2021

What We Can Do with Sex Robots

“Anthropomorphic love dolls – the successors of basic blowup dolls – are widely used these days, both in brothels and at home. While they can offer physical comfort and sexual satisfaction, they certainly cannot engage in more complex interactions with their counterparts. However, sex robots can – or at least they ought to. For now, the offer is not extensive and prices are high. The motor abilities of current models are limited and mainly focus on the head, while the body is usually identical to that of a love doll. Obviously, sex robots are made primarily to have sex with. But the user can also talk to and even form a relationship with them. This in mind, we are now starting to think about other applications of humanoid sex robots in the future – at least when their motor skills have improved. The possibilities might surprise you …” (De Gruyter Conversations, 23 April 2021) The full article is available via blog.degruyter.com/what-we-can-do-with-sex-robots-besides-the-obvious/ …

April 19, 2021April 19, 2021

One Small Flight for Ingenuity

“That’s one small flight for Ingenuity – one giant journey for mankind.” This can be said after the successful experiment on 19 April 2021 with the tiny helicopter on Mars (photo: screenshot from NASA livestream). Ingenuity flew vertically into the air, took a selfie with its shadow, and landed safely back on the ground. The red planet is associated with many expectations and aspirations. At the moment, the surface is being explored in an unprecedented way. In a few years, humans are expected to travel to Mars. In doing so, they will also need advice and support. Because the personnel on Earth are far away, a voice assistant is a possible solution. SPACE THEA is a voicebot that shows empathy (but doesn’t have it, of course). Like GOODBOT and BESTBOT, she recognizes user problems – but unlike those chatbots, she has a voice. SPACE THEA will be developed until August 2021 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel at the School of Business FHNW. The project aims to cover several scenarios on the flight to Mars. However, a voicebot could also be useful on the planet itself, for example to control a tiny helicopter.

April 18, 2021April 18, 2021

A Four-legged Robocop

In New York City, police have taken a Boston Dynamics robot on a mission to an apartment building. Spot is a four-legged model that is advanced and looks scary to many people. The operation resulted in the arrest of an armed man. Apparently, the robot had no active role in this. This is reported by Futurism magazine in a recent article. It is also noted there that certain challenges may arise. “The robodog may not have played an active role in the arrest, but having an armed police squadron deploy a robot to an active crime scene raises red flags about civil liberties and the future of policing.” (Futurism, 15 April 2021) Even Boston Dynamics robots are not so advanced that they can play a central role in police operations. They can, however, serve to intimidate. Whether the NYPD is doing itself any favors by doing so can be questioned. The robots’ reputation will certainly not benefit from this kind of use.

April 15, 2021July 25, 2023

Robots that Spare Animals

Semi-autonomous machines, autonomous machines and robots inhabit closed, semi-closed and open environments, more structured environments like the household or more unstructured environments like cultural landscapes or the wilderness. There they encounter domestic animals, farm animals, working animals, and wild animals. These creatures could be disturbed, displaced, injured, or killed by the machines. Within the context of machine ethics and social robotics, the School of Business FHNW developed several design studies and prototypes for animal-friendly machines, which can be understood as moral and social machines in the spirit of these disciplines. In 2019-20, a team led by Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel developed a prototype robot lawnmower that can recognize hedgehogs, interrupt its work for them and thus protect them. Every year many of these animals die worldwide because of traditional service robots. HAPPY HEDGEHOG (HHH), as the invention is called, could be a solution to this problem. This article begins by providing an introduction to the background. Then it focuses on navigation (where the machine comes across certain objects that need to be recognized) and thermal and image recognition (with the help of machine learning) of the machine. It also presents obvious weaknesses and possible improvements. The results could be relevant for an industry that wants to market their products as animal-friendly machines. The paper “The HAPPY HEDGEHOG Project” is available here.

March 28, 2021March 28, 2021

The New Life of Hugvie

How can you make social robots out of simple, soft shapes and objects, i.e. robots for interacting with people and animals? Under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel, Vietnamese students Nhi Hoang Yen Tran and Thang Vu Hoang are investigating this question in the project “Simple, Soft Social Robots” at the School of Business FHNW. They are using Hugvie from the Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories as a basis – these labs are particularly famous for the Geminoid and for Erica. But hugging robots like Telenoid also come from them. The latest product from this series is Hugvie. A pocket for a smartphone is attached to its head. People who are far away from each other can talk to each other and have the feeling of hugging and feeling each other. But what else can you do with Hugvie and similar forms? Can you make them conversationalists themselves, can you teach them to move their limbs and be active in other ways? And what does such robotization of simple, soft forms and objects mean for everyday life and society?

March 16, 2021March 16, 2021

Care Robots with New Functions

The symposium “Applied AI in Healthcare: Safety, Community, and the Environment” will be held within the AAAI Spring Symposia on March 22-23, 2021. One of the presentations is titled “Care Robots with Sexual Assistance Functions”. Author of the paper is Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel. From the abstract: “Residents in retirement and nursing homes have sexual needs just like other people. However, the semi-public situation makes it difficult for them to satisfy these existential concerns. In addition, they may not be able to meet a suitable partner or find it difficult to have a relationship for mental or physical reasons. People who live or are cared for at home can also be affected by this problem. Perhaps they can host someone more easily and discreetly than the residents of a health facility, but some elderly and disabled people may be restricted in some ways. This article examines the opportunities and risks that arise with regard to care robots with sexual assistance functions. First of all, it deals with sexual well-being. Then it presents robotic systems ranging from sex robots to care robots. Finally, the focus is on care robots, with the author exploring technical and design issues. A brief ethical discussion completes the article. The result is that care robots with sexual assistance functions could be an enrichment of the everyday life of people in need of care, but that we also have to consider some technical, design and moral aspects.” More information about the AAAI Spring Symposia is available at aaai.org/Symposia/Spring/sss21.php.

March 12, 2021March 12, 2021

Cobots in Healthcare

After several postponements, the symposium “Applied AI in Healthcare: Safety, Community, and the Environment” will be held within the AAAI Spring Symposia on March 22-23, 2021. One of the presentations is titled “Co-Robots as Care Robots” (co-robots are also called cobots). The authors of the paper are Oliver Bendel, Alina Gasser, and Joel Siebenmann. From the abstract: “Cooperation and collaboration robots, co-robots or cobots for short, are an integral part of factories. For example, they work closely with the fitters in the automotive sector, and everyone does what they do best. However, the novel robots are not only relevant in production and logistics, but also in the service sector, especially where proximity between them and the users is desired or unavoidable. For decades, individual solutions of a very different kind have been developed in care. Now experts are increasingly relying on co-robots and teaching them the special tasks that are involved in care or therapy. This article presents the advantages, but also the disadvantages of co-robots in care and support, and provides information with regard to human-robot interaction and communication. The article is based on a model that has already been tested in various nursing and retirement homes, namely Lio from F&P Robotics, and uses results from accompanying studies. The authors can show that co-robots are ideal for care and support in many ways. Of course, it is also important to consider a few points in order to guarantee functionality and acceptance.” More information about the AAAI Spring Symposia is available at aaai.org/Symposia/Spring/sss21.php.