I was walking though CVS today and I noticed a product called "Robot Sliders." Now, my mother has these sliders to help her move large furniture when cleaning. You simply place them under the four corners of a large chest and it easily slides across the floor. Where is the robot in that? Robot Sliders! This is totally false advertisement!
Okay, this may be a bit of an over reaction, but it seems that the word robot is increasingly misused in order to sell products and other applications. The word robot has always seemed to convey a sci-fi and advanced mechanism. And in that vain, I can understand the word's use on components that have some electrical and sensing capability. But the robot sliders didn't even have a power cord.
Let's look at what the definition of robot is. According to the Robot Institute of America in 1979, a robot is "A reprogrammable, multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools, or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of tasks".
Essentially this means that a machine must have a programming center (computer chip) and able to execute several tasks. The machine may also have a set of tools to complete a task. The i robot's Roomba is a great example of this.
This definition is 30 years old and a great amount of computer and electronics invention has been completed since then. The idea of a robot has further been complicated with the addition of these components in everyday things. Is a cell phone that has an alarm on it a robot? Is a car that tells your the oil tank is low? Confusing questions.
I searched the web for a modern day definition, but many definitions on the web associate robots with human likeness or actions. This association of humans and robotic ties may come from the word robot itself. The word robot is a Czech word, robota, which means compulsory labor or serf. The meaning being that robots would be our slaves.
I wonder how much we are actually slaves to robots. At least in our pocket books!
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ReplyDeleteJust as Asimov's conceptual paradigm of robots being subservient to humankind changed to a concept of "Cooperative Thinking Machines", the term robot continues to grow to encompass any "Intelligent Device" or "Smart Material." Often these devices have no "real intelligence", but the human way is to connect with other humans and personify that which is not.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, humans are most fascinated by intelligence and self awareness. It is one of the most important gifts we have received from our ancestors, or god, or whatever you believe...( personally I would have been cool with claws and a fur coat.)
Humans want to connect with humans, and it seems that humans also want to connect with machines.
The "Robot Sliders" product is named as such purely for marketing purposes. The marketing demi-gods or this product have used the term "robot" to trick us into thinking that this product is cutting edge, futuristic, or high tech. Another words they want us to believe it's worth shelling out $9.99.
Wasn't this technology employed by the jewish slaves who had to transport heavy limestone blocks from the Nile to build the pyramids for their Egyptian masters? perhaps the "slave" connotation to the term Robot, was not missed by the marketing Demi-gods.