Prepare for the Uprising!!

Android cloning may be closer than most of us would ever think! Take the work of Hiroshi Ishiguro, a senior researcher at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories outside Kyoto. He has created his own robotic likeness, Geminoid HI-1, so he can deliver his lectures remotely. Ishiguro hopes to develop the robot to such a perfect likeness that his students and even family can "feel his presence" through Geminoid. Can anyone say "Cylon?" Check out these videos of Ishiguro introducing his double and this one of the robot chatting. More videos showing the robot's realistic facial expressions can be found here.

Speaking of intelligent robotics, at LabAutomation2007 the Lab Man had the pleasure to interview our closing speaker, Daniel H. Wilson, author of "How to Survive a Robot Uprising." For those of you who weren't able to attend his entertaining talk, listen to the interview podcast. As he indicates, the book was done in jest while he was a student in the robotics program at Carnegie Mellon, but it's turned into serious stuff for him. Paramount has bought the movie rights to the book and has signed Mike Myers to star in the planned film! Who knew that all those cynical musings during graduate school could actually be worth something! The chances that we miss!

Daniel commented that the automation he saw on the exhibit floor was not of the type to really "fear," unless one stuck one's head inside the work envelope. The Lab Man once did this as a show of confidence in the programming skills of his co-workers, only to be persuaded to remove his head before said co-workers would agree to start the system. The robot (an industrial type) proceeded to zoom right through the space where the Lab Man's head had recently been and slammed into a large, heavy Beckman MultiMek, which the robot managed to move and dent. The lesson? Robot uprisings are out there, waiting to happen! Don't tempt fate.

Of course, the more sophisticated robot uprisings may take very subtle, passive-aggressive form. Take, for instance, the release of the new Vista operating system from Microsoft. The lure of upgrading to the latest and greatest OS is quite likely to cause many automated systems to simply refuse to operate. Clearly a passive-aggressive response! Of course, most experienced automaters will resist the nefarious temptation to upgrade, or be protected from themselves by their IT department - knights in shining armor.

Then there is the pending (at the time of writing) early switch to daylight savings time. Some IT professionals predict that this might be as disruptive as they thought the Y2K adventure was going to be. Robotic reaction incubation times throughout the United States are probably in danger, at least for automated labs that work over the weekend. This may not be a good time to submit blood for your annual cholesterol test, lest this passive-aggressive robot/computer behavior cause you to take statins for the rest of your life!

By the way, it's been reported by the online engineering magazine EUREKA that if one wants to avoid the pending robot uprising, one should be in the U.K., where only 2% of the world's robots reside, less than Germany, Spain, Italy, France, Australia and Canada. The worst place? Japan, where 40% of the world's robots reside (not to mention Godzilla, Rodan, PowerRangers, etc..).

I'm sure many of you have observed subtle signs of potential robot / computer / automation uprisings? Share those so we can all be aware. Take advantage of our new "blog" format, which is part of the new informatics and web technologies initiatives of the ALA - all designed to bring more benefit to you, the member.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Or is it just more preparation for the Uprising?

As always, your comments are welcome and encouraged! Listen to the Podcasts!!

Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto