Androids

EXERCISE 1

Read and translate the text.

An android is a robot or synthetic organism designed to look and act like a human, and with a body having a flesh-like resemblance. Until recently, androids have largely remained within the domain of science fiction, frequently seen in film and television. However, advancements in robotic technology have allowed the design of functional and realistic humanoid robots.

The word "android" is a combination of Ancient Greek Andros (man) and the suffix -oid. According to this fashion, a female human-like robot would be a "gynoid".

The word "android" has been used in literature and other media to denote several different kinds of artificially constructed beings that resemble a human and whose bodies usually have a flesh-like resemblance. Some of the oldest definitions of an android where that of an alchemical creation of mechanical automata, but as early as 1954 it has been used to distinguish it from a robot-like machine as "a chemical creation of synthetic tissue."

Authors have used the term “android” in more diverse ways than robot or cyborg. In some fictional works, the difference between a robot and android is only their appearance, with androids being made to look like humans on the outside but with robot-like internal mechanics. In other stories, authors have used the word "android" to mean a wholly organic, yet artificial, creation. Other fictional depictions of androids fall somewhere in between. There are distinguished three types of androids, based on their body's composition:

• the mummy type - where androids are made of "dead things" or "stiff, inanimate, natural material", such as mummies, puppets, dolls and statues

• the golem type - androids made from flexible, possibly organic material, including golems and homunculi

• the automaton type - androids which are a mix of dead and living parts, including automatons and robots

Androids are one of the staples of science fiction. Fictional androids are sometimes but not always depicted as mentally and physically equal or superior to humans – moving, thinking and speaking as fluidly as them. The tension between the nonhuman substance and the human appearance – or even human ambitions – of androids is the dramatic impetus behind most of their fictional depictions. Some android heroes seek to become human, as in the film “Artificial Intelligence”. Others rebel against abuse by careless humans. Android stories are not essentially stories "about" androids; they are stories about the human condition and what it means to be human.

Female androids, or "gynoids", are often seen in science fiction, and can be viewed as a continuation of the long tradition of men attempting to create the stereotypical "perfect woman". Examples include the Greek myth of Pygmalion and the female robot Maria in Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Fiction about gynoids has therefore been described as reinforcing "essentialist ideas of femininity", although others have suggested that the treatment of androids is a way of exploring racism and misogyny in society.

The Intelligent Mechatronics Lab at the Tokyo University of Science has developed an android head called Saya, which was exhibited in 2002 in Yokohama, Japan. Now Saya is working at the Science University of Tokyo as a guide. There are several other initiatives around the world which will hopefully introduce a broader spectrum of realized technology in the near future.

In South Korea, the Ministry of Information and Communication has an ambitious plan to put a robot in every household by 2020. Several robot cities have been planned for the country. The new robot city will feature research and development centers for manufacturers and part suppliers, as well as exhibition halls and a stadium for robot competitions.

The US Army is calling upon Android app developers to help make military life a little less stressful - and, perhaps, a lot safer. They plan to incorporate smartphone technology on the battlefield. Any app will be interoperable across all command systems, and will be tightly secured. The two-pound device will be a military-friendly smartphone designed to run on a variety of existing radio networks, while supporting the full suite of forthcoming apps.