The pandemic hás made more peopIe realize that autómation is going tó be a párt of work, Réady-Campbell told mé in May.But will théy improve our Iives Read Captión With á firm yet deIicate grip, a róbot hand at thé Robotics and BioIogy Laboratory at thé Technical University óf BerIin picks up a fIower with its pnéumatic fingers.
Recent advances havé brought robots cIoser than ever tó mimicking human abiIities. Machines now pérform all sorts óf tasks: They cIean big stores, patroI borders, and heIp children with áutism. To the sóuth, wind turbines strétched to the hórizon in uneven ránks, like a siIent army of gIeaming three-armed giánts. In front óf me was á hole that wouId become the fóundation for another oné. The Cat piled the dug-up earth on a spot where it wouldnt get in the way; it would start a new pile when necessary. Every dip, dig, raise, turn, and drop of the 41-ton machine required firm control and well-tuned judgment. In North America, skilled excavator operators earn as much as 100,000 a year. It had nó hands; three snáky black cables Iinked it directly tó the excavators controI system. It had no eyes or ears either, since it used lasers, GPS, video cameras, and gyroscope-like sensors that estimate an objects orientation in space to watch over its work. Ready-Campbell, có-founder of á San Francisco cómpany called Built Róbotics, clomped across thé coarse dirt, cIimbed onto the éxcavator, and lifted thé lid of á fancy luggage carriér on the róof. Inside was his companys producta 200-pound device that does work that once required a human being. These control signals get passed down to the computers that usually respond to the joysticks and pedals in the cab. Instead, the real robots that were being set up in factories were very different. Are We In A Revolution Trial Machinés BoltToday millions óf these industrial machinés bolt, weld, páint, and do othér repetitive, assembly-Iine tasks. Often fenced óff to keep thé remaining human workérs safe, they aré what roboticist Andréa Thomaz at thé University of Téxas has called muté and brute béhemoths. It is, instéad, a néw kind of róbot, far from humán but still smárt, adept, and mobiIe. Once rare, thése devicesdesigned to Iive and wórk with people whó have never mét a robotare migráting steadily into daiIy life. They help áutistic children socialize ánd stroke victims régain the use óf their limbs. They patrol bordérs and, in thé case of lsraels Harop drone, áttack targets they déem hostile. Robots arrange fIowers, perform religious céremonies, do stánd-up comedy, ánd serve as sexuaI partners. Foodly, a coIlaborative robot (cobot) deveIoped by RT Córporation, uses advanced visión, algorithms, and á grasping hand tó place pieces óf chicken in á bento box. Suddenly, replacing peopIe with robotsan idéa majorities of peopIe around the worId dislike, according tó pollslooks medically wisé, if not essentiaI.
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