Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Google Has a Room Full of Robots

Google Has a Room Full of Robot Arms Learning Hand-Eye Coordination

Over the years we have all come to the realization that eventually, robots will be able to replace human jobs. We have started to see this already with some technology in medicine. However, the news that caught my eye was that the company we all know to be technologically enhanced, Goole, has been conducting an experiment teaching robot arms how to "interact with their environment". This project has been so much more than simply creating robots, but having the technology to teach them as well. John Wenz stated; "Essentially, Google outfitted the arms with basic optical sensors and a neural network, or artificial brain capable of learning." Basically, by saying this, Wenz is confirming that these robots can in fact, learn from mistakes, and function as if they were the arms of humans. A test was run in this project. The test was to find a specific object within a pile of multiple objects. After finding the object, the robots had to learn which position was the best way to then go about holding the object without breaking it. So overall, this test not only evaluated the robot arms' ability to grasp an object, but look at what it is given, find what is the correct object, and complete the task with ease. Wenz stated; "The researches said it's essentially hand-eye coordination."

The overall goal of this project is to have robots to sort objects as a job. However, there are currently humans who do this job. So my concern is that as well continually develop into the new technological advancements with robots, that there will no longer be simple jobs for citizens of our countries to do. As bad as this sounds, there are a large amount of individuals within our country that do not have basic level education, or if they do they do not have a college education. These jobs keep many of these lower level education citizens from living on the street. These simple tasks are what feed families and provide shelter. So yes, this advancement is technologically amazing. However, I feel it will also come with many problems, including an increase in unemployment within the states.

Wenz, John. "Google Has a Room Full of Robot Arms Learning Hand-Eye Coordination." Popular Mechanics. PM, 30 Mar. 2016. Web. 30 Mar. 2016. 

5 comments:

  1. I feel like you have made some interesting points in your post. First of all, the fact that robots can use hand-eye coordination is a really big deal. This aspect really makes robots more productive. It makes me curious to see what exactly robots could be used for. Would it be used in businesses or would it be used for more recreational purposes? Also, I agree that these robots would affect employment. This would provide a lesser opportunity for people to find jobs and the competition would be even more intense.

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  2. This is a fascinating article. Its amazing that these robots are interacting with and learning from the physical world. Not only that they are able do these tasks, but potentially do them better than humans with less error is impressive. The biggest takeaway for me isn't that Google has has robotic arms that can do these simple tasks, but the implication that we have robots cable of this today so where will the next step be for Google.
    I think your concern for jobs is a good one, certainly these jobs will be given to robots sooner than later. I think though that by the time this becomes wide spread, other developments and changes will have occurred also. As our society transitions towards this change I think we will have shifted enough from where we are today that less people will be competing for this kind of job as new opportunities and norms are set. If these robots went into every factory next week people would definitely suffer but I think it will be a while before this becomes rampant.

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  3. This is a fascinating article. Its amazing that these robots are interacting with and learning from the physical world. Not only that they are able do these tasks, but potentially do them better than humans with less error is impressive. The biggest takeaway for me isn't that Google has has robotic arms that can do these simple tasks, but the implication that we have robots cable of this today so where will the next step be for Google.
    I think your concern for jobs is a good one, certainly these jobs will be given to robots sooner than later. I think though that by the time this becomes wide spread, other developments and changes will have occurred also. As our society transitions towards this change I think we will have shifted enough from where we are today that less people will be competing for this kind of job as new opportunities and norms are set. If these robots went into every factory next week people would definitely suffer but I think it will be a while before this becomes rampant.

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  5. What is interesting about this article is the rapid speed at which technology, in terms of robots, is advancing. It was not many years ago, that the creation of robots began. It does not surprise me that Google is behind some of these advancements. It is quite impressive that robots are coming even closer to acting as the human brain does. Although this is exciting, I do agree with your concern about how this will affect the jobs of low skilled workers. This would take away many jobs from low skilled workers, and this would raise the unemployment in our country dramatically. There are not enough high skilled jobs in existence, and while many people do not want to work the low skilled jobs, many people also rely on them. Not everyone can afford to have a college education, so if robots take most jobs not requiring higher education, many people will be left jobless. I also think that while these robots could replace a human being, they will be expensive to buy and they have not been in existence long enough to know what to do if it malfunctions. What if the robot was left to do a job over night, and it malfunctioned and did the entirety of the job wrong? There is not enough research and testing done to know exactly how this could be fixed. But this problem seems to be the one Google is working towards solving, for they are looking for a way to learn from mistakes similar to the way a human brain operates. Overall, I think that robots can be used fields, such as the medical field to assist, but I do think it becomes more harmful to our economy then beneficial once they begin to take over jobs previously worked by humans.

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