The Age of
Robots. The Magic of Another YouThe session began, as was appropriate, with the spotlight on the robot, Geminoid 3 DK, that answered the moderator’s as if he was Scharfe himself. Then Scharfe appeared in his own being and dwelled on the science and ethics of robotics.
Three factors, Scharfe said, will define the evolution of robots. One, improvements in range of movement until robots can identify and occupy human environments. Currently, movement of robots is not based on motivation but on received instructions and the idea is to develop them to operate independent of human instruction. Two, networking robots to allow them to communicate with their kind as well as the internet. Three, integrate robots with multiple sources of intelligence. This will enable a robot to recognise a problem, ask for an adequate solution from its own information banks, put it into effect and evaluate the result. In time, this could lead to the birth of artificial intelligence. “Artificial intelligence cannot be brought about by engineers, robots have to explore, seek and learn and only then will intelligence be born,” he said.
Scharfe also said the world is moving towards a future of robots with brain-like perception. “In only 10-12 years, we can have robots that travel to another place, do a task and return to their origin completely independent of human instruction.”
