By Jacqui Depares
Stumbling through a copy of The Times last week, I was drawn to an article recounting Will Pavia’s date with Heart Robot. Yes, that’s right. A robot.
Heart Robot was, until last week, the main attraction at The Science Museum and is an emotionally literate robot – meaning that he responds to movement and touch, and that his heart beat races should you grip his shoulder, as Will Pavia did. Shocking, given it was only their first date.
The publicity around Heart Robot coincided, quite aptly, with the launch of Disney Pixar’s hotly tipped WALL.E. Here we find ourselves following the tale of a robot called WALL.E who is designed to clean up earth in its polluted state. WALL.E however falls in love with Eve, a fellow robot on another planet, and whilst I won’t spoil the ending for those of you who haven’t seen it yet, suffice it to say that Disney doesn’t disappoint.
So, what’s the relevancy of this? Well, if Heart Robot shows us anything, it’s that emotionally literate robots, like WALL.E (but perhaps without the Disney charm) – could soon be a reality for us. Something, which whilst conceptually seems pretty cool, is nonetheless quite something to get our heads round. And whilst I’d love to think that a future with robots would be more like having your own personal Johnny 5 from ‘Short Circuit’, the reality could in fact be like something from ‘The Terminator’ or Sonny in ‘I, Robot’ gone evil.
Delving into this a little bit further I had a quick search on the net to see what else I could discover on this topic. From a quick search it seems that 18 months ago there was even talk of creating a “code of ethics” for machines to protect them as they grow in sophistication. Indeed, one professor at the time even asked the question “What happens if robots turn out to be sexy?”, whilst another – the acclaimed artificial intelligence expert David Levy – claimed that by 2050 robot lovers will be commonplace.
Now whilst this is a road I don’t think we should travel down for the purposes of this blog – the point it makes is clear. Robots could in the not too distant future become a part of everyday life. So, next time you go to the cinema, or settle down on the sofa to watch yet another re-run of ‘I, Robot’, just think – the fiction could soon become a reality.
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