Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:Readings in Robotics Engineering. Учебное пособие
.pdf
3.8. Will a robot take your job?
101
Exploring the seabed
Offshore oil and gas production often requires structural fixes deep under the water. A prime example of a past need for semi-autonomous robots was
the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion when millions of tonnes of oil
could have been prevented flooding into the sea, if suitable robots had been
available to plug the flow.
Today autonomous marine vessel inspection is becoming widespread.
Autonomous gliders are monitoring the oceans to take environmental measurements to inform the geosciences. Robots also support the maintenance of
communications infrastructure by repairing underwater cables.
Discussion
Can you think of a further example where teams of robots will be key to
solving a problem, rather than an individual robot?
3.8. Will a robot take your job?
A key driving force in the development of mobile robotic systems is
their potential for reducing the need for a human presence in jobs which are
dirty, dangerous and dull. In this discussion, we want to find out how you feel
about robotics and the future of jobs.
We’d like you to examine at least one of the links below, all which offer
different insights into the future of automation.
Once you’ve read the item, please say:
• Which item you’ve looked at
• What impact the item has (if any) on your hopes and concerns about
the impact of technology on employment.
Pick whichever links interest you:
• AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs
• This report by the Pew Research Centre’s Internet Project covers ex-
perts’ views about advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and their
impact on jobs and employment.
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2014/08/06/future-of-jobs/
• Automation may mean a post-work society but we shouldn’t be afraid
Part 3. Working in teams
102
• In this article, journalist Paul Mason reflects on the opportunities of-
fered by automation including the slashing of working hours and a redefinition
of ourselves without work.
https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/feb/17/automa-
tion-may-mean-a-post-work-society-but-we-shouldnt-be-afraid
• Will a robot take your job?
• Michael Osborne and Carl Frey, from Oxford University’s Martin
School calculated how susceptible to automation each job is based on nine key
skills required to perform it; social perceptiveness, negotiation, persuasion,
assisting and caring for others, originality, fine arts, finger dexterity, manual
dexterity and the need to work in a cramped work space.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34066941
Preparing for a future with robots
Here we'll recap on our educator's vision for a future with robots.
3.9. Programming skills for robotics
Programming is a key skill to develop for working in robotics. In this
step, we’ll introduce programming, the important languages, and how you can
get started with tools like Arduino and Raspberry Pi.
What is a computer program?
Robots process sensor data, perform cognition and plan actions using
computer programs that are executed on a processor. Computer programs are
essentially a set of instructions that operate on an input to produce an output.
Example: A face recognition program in a robot will:
1. take an image of a person as an input,
2. scan the image for a specific set of features,
3. compare these features to a library of known faces,
4. find a match, then
5. return the name of the person as an output.
The program will perform exactly these same set of instructions every
time it executes.
3.9. Programming skills for robotics
103
Most programming languages are written in normal text, which is easy
for humans to understand. Programs are then compiled into machine code for a
processor to execute (or byte code, for a virtual machine to execute).
Programming languages
There are numerous programming languages available, e.g. C/C++, Java, Fortran, Python etc. The most popular language in robotics is probably
C/C++ (C++ is an object-oriented successor to the C language). Python is also
very popular due to its use in machine learning and also because it can be used
to develop ROS packages - see below.
There are additional, important software tools used in robotics, in particular:
Robot Operating System (ROS) is a set of software libraries and tools
that helps you build robot applications. You can also write your own programs
for ROS e.g. in C/C++ or Python.
Matlab which is used for data analysis and interfaces with ROS (also,
Octave is a free, open-source equivalent to Matlab.)
C programming and the Arduino microcontroller
The C/C++ language is one of the most widely used programming languages in robotics. The Arduino microcontroller uses a programming language
based on C and is a great way to learn the basics of this important language
whilst doing hands-on robotics.
A basic Arduino (Uno) costs about EUR 19 and the program development environment can be downloaded for free from the Arduino website where
you’ll also find many example projects and tutorials.
Python and the Raspberry Pi
Python is a useful language to learn as it is widely used in computer science and machine learning. Python is the language that is used with the Raspberry Pi. This makes it highly relevant to robotics because you can use a Raspberry Pi to control a robot.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation have developed a number of free online
courses for learning how to use a Raspberry Pi in robotics.
What are the differences between an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi?
The Arduino and Raspberry Pi are both useful for robotics projects but
have some important differences.
Part 3. Working in teams
104
Arduino. An Arduino is a microcontroller, which is like a simple computer but which runs and loops a single program that you have written on a PC.
This program is compiled and downloaded to the microcontroller as machine
code. The Arduino is well suited to low-level robot control and has features like
analogue-to-digital conversion for connecting analogue sensors.
Raspberry Pi. A Raspberry Pi (RPi) is just like a normal PC and so is
more versatile than an Arduino but lacks features like analogue-to-digital conversion. The RPi runs a Linux operating system (usually Raspian). You can
connect a keyboard, mouse and monitor to a RPi, along with peripherals like a
camera - very useful for robotics. (Due to the fact that the RPi runs Linux you
can also install ROS although it can be a bit tricky to setup.)
Discussion
What programming language would you like to learn, and are you
tempted have a go with an Arduino to learn C, or a Raspberry Pi to learn Python or both?
3.10. Ensuring a safe robotic future
How will living with robots change our lives and the future of humanity
in the 21st century? This step examines the rise of consumer robotics and the
ethical challenges of using robots and autonomous systems in wider society.
On the edge of a revolution in robotics?
We could be rushing headlong into a revolution in robotics without due
caution.
Think about the sudden rapid development of the internet when it
reached a critical mass of consumers. It was almost entirely populated by academics through the 1980s. A decade later it had broken loose and was changing
the world and being put to uses that few of us could have imagined. Robotics
could be close to a similar turning point.
Robot sales went up dramatically in 2014 (4.7 million robots were sold
for personal and domestic use) with an even sharper rise predicted for 2018,
according to the International Federation for Robotics. Sales of industrial robots
rose to US$35 billion and are predicted to nearly double by 2018.
But more surprising is the upsurge in service robots for everything from
healthcare to the care of children and the elderly, from cooking and preparing
3.10. Ensuring a safe robotic future
105
food to making and serving cocktails, from domestic cleaning to agriculture
and farming, from policing, security and killing in armed conflict to monitoring
climate change and protecting endangered species.
Ethical issues in robotics
Despite the enormous impact that the increased numbers of robots could
have in our workplaces, our streets and our homes, almost no attention is being
paid to the potential societal and ethical hazards.
Ethical issues are particularly relevant to at least two of the items that
are high on the public agenda: care of the elderly and military robots.
Care of the elderly. Robots are being developed to help provide care
for the elderly, such as automated feeding robots, which should lead to increased independence in later life. But one of the ethical issues is that the rise
of care robots will lessen the need for human caregivers, potentially leading to
isolation of the elderly.
Military robots. Robots used in the military currently have a human in
the loop, to decide when to use lethal force. However, future combat systems
will likely include fully autonomous robots ‒ this raises the ethical problem of
how a machine will decide when lethal force is appropriate, and it is not yet
clear how this will be solved.
From ethics to policy, and engendering public trust
A lot has been written about the ethical and societal issues in robotics
both in general and on specific applications since the early 2000s. It is clear that
we urgently need to bridge the gap between these discussions and concrete action such as:
• Developing codes of conduct for responsible and accountable research,
design and manufacturing practice.
• Assisting and advocating for new national and international policy
formation and the generation of new regulations and laws.
At this point, it is timely to consider what action is required for the
future of robotics so that we can create and increase public trust in the technology.
This is why groups such as the Foundation for Responsible Robotics
have been setup. Organised by over 20 of the world’s leading tech scholars,
writers and roboticists, it is now growing rapidly with many new members
and partners.
Part 3. Working in teams
106
Robotics for everyone
It is vital that all stakeholders are involved in the development of policy
governing robots. Future policy will require an integrated multidisciplinary
approach combining law, social science, philosophy, and robotics research and
design, working in tandem with manufacturers, policy and law makers as well
as engaging with the public. This is essential if we are to strive for responsible
and accountable developments and practice in robotics without stifling innovation or trampling on people’s research or commerce.
The public needs to be assured that new developments will be created
responsibly and with due consideration of their human rights and freedom of
choice. Early mistakes could set the field back by many years and stifle research. This is why engaging with the public is vital.
It is difficult for policy makers and the legislators to keep up with the
rapidly emerging developments in the field of robotics. So, it is paramount that
the scientists, researchers and manufacturers develop a socially responsible
attitude to their work and promote ethical and societal principles of fairness and
justice to ensure that robotics has a successful future in helping humanity.
See also
Minds, motherboards, and money: futurism and realism in the neuroethics of BCI technologies
BCI technology holds the potential to benefit humanity greatly, but also
the potential to do harm. In this article, Mark A. Attiah and Martha J. Farah
address some of its ethical implications.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnsys.2014.00086/full
3.11. What does a future with robots look like? Video
Let’s have one final recap of the vision that each of our educators has
for a future with robots - bringing together some clips you will have seen before but some that will be new to you.
Has learning about the current research and development and where it’s
potentially going given you some insight into why flying cars, Robocops and
Iron Men don’t exist yet?
3.11. What does a future with robots look like? Video
107
Discussion
Are developments in robotics more challenging than you realised?
What area of research would you prioritise?
Transcript
0:05 Autonomous driving is bound to come. So what we need to do is
we need to make sure that there is a firm understanding of risk, decisions are
made based on the most available and current information as best as possible,
so that autonomous vehicles can fit in reliably into the roads of today. One of
the big areas where there’s going to be major breakthroughs as well, I think, is
in robot surgery and robots in medicine. And so many good ones have been
developed. My favourite is the exoskeleton. And that’s all robotics technology,
but you wear it like a suit.
0:37 So you put it on your legs ‒ instead of a wheelchair ‒ so it supports
you standing upright, it reads neural signals from your thighs, and you just
walk. You don’t have to be trained. You just can walk. And if you wear the
upper part, it makes you super strong. So not just for the elderly, but for carers.
Instead of putting somebody on a hoist, or having some robot lift you, they can
lift the person themselves and make good eye contact, and hold them. St
George’s Hospital in Scotland is a roboticized hospital in every way. They have
tunnels underneath, so all the laundry is done by robots.
1:11 I can see in the future, and there’s been some research on it, putting
one of these small surgeon things on ambulances. So you’ve got a pileup on the
motorway ‒ and most people die coming back to the hospital, that’s where you
die ‒ or some sort of rescues, emergencies, storms or anything like that. So you
send these little surgeons out. And one doctor with the help of assistants on the
ground could do temporary operations on a number of people, make them secure to bring them back to hospital. There has been an operation already between Buenos Aires and Paris. So a surgeon in Paris was operating on someone
in Buenos Aires.
1:48 There’s lots of places in the world that don’t have the possibility of
having a surgeon. It became quite evident in my training that robotic surgery
was going to be the future of surgery. And it’s gone from strength to strength,
and it will continue to improve as the years go by. I think open surgery ‒ it
won’t become obsolete ‒ but I think it will be done less and less. They’re trying
to design a robot that you actually put inside the abdomen of the patient, so
Part 3. Working in teams
108
there will only be one tiny incision. The robot’s inside the abdomen, and does
the operation. We talk about delivering individual parcels, but what about autonomous cargo planes?
2:22 So full-sized aircraft effectively flying around hundreds of tonnes
of freight that don’t need pilots up front. If you know that there’s a boat lost in
a particular area, you may be able to send out 50 drones, which can cover the
area much quicker than one manned aircraft or even one man with his drone.
And the interesting thing about that is you’re not always necessarily bothered
about getting all of those drones back. If you can save 10 people’s lives, it
doesn’t matter if you lose two or three drones in the process. One way that ro-
bots are really going to help us, vitally, is in saving our planet. That’s a great
use for them, and really in the service of humanity.
2:55 And they’re already doing a lot of work for us that people don’t re-
ally know about. We have autonomous submarines, for instance, going under
the ice caps, measuring exactly what the melting flow is. We have a lot of robots in the ocean now, under the sea and in harbours in the United States - like
little fish robots, lobster robots ‒ taking out all the chemicals, measuring con-
stantly what the chemical composition is. There’s even a group in Scotland, a
research group, that have made robots that repair coral reefs. They actually go
down and repair the coral reef. So those things are really essential.
3:31 Robots are going to be useful in educational settings helping teachers, particularly giving one-on-one attention to children, scaffolding their learning of things like reading, writing, and arithmetic. Robots could be sent out to
inspect places where humans cannot go because the places are just too small,
inaccessible like a pipe network where water, oil, or gas is travelling through.
In the very long term, you could even think about robots going much smaller,
and they may even enter your very own body. So think about all the blood vessels. This is a network of about 100,000 kilometres, the vascular network, and
most of this is currently inaccessible to any technology.
4:20 So if the robots would become very small and simple, and scaled
down in size, they could potentially provide the next generation of diagnosis
and treatment. We can help severely paralysed people to gain some sort of independence. So they can use this technology to control their environments.
They can have a type of assistive robot that is controlled by their brain signals.
Just imagine those who are paralysed from below the neck, so they don’t have
3.13. Working in teams: check your understanding Quiz
109
any muscle movements, but they can use their brain signals to control a robotic
hand for example. It’s one of the areas that I am working in. The fact is the
applications are limitless.
5:02 We’re in such an early stage of this research, and that research
could take you anywhere. It could take you to playing computer games, like
we’re doing, it could control wheelchairs in the future. It’s literally limitless,
the applications. We’re only dipping our toe, really, and playing about, com-
pared to what it actually could be applied to in real life.
3.12. Are we ready for a future with robots?
In this final discussion, we’d like to know whether you think we are
ready for a future with robots.
• Are we, as a society, well prepared for the use of large numbers of
semi-autonomous robots?
• As developers or users, do our responsibilities weigh us down?
• Do the benefits of autonomous robots outweigh their costs and
dangers?
• Are we facing ethical and legal challenges, which will hinder the up-
take of some kinds of robots?
3.13. Working in teams: check your understanding Quiz
Question 1
What is the main benefit of robot-assisted surgery over traditional key-
hole (laparoscopy) methods?
• Reduced time to recovery
• Reduced pain
• Reduced length of stay in hospital
• Reduced blood loss
That’s right. Like laparoscopy (or keyhole surgery), robot assisted sur-
gery has the benefits over open surgery of reduced time to recovery, reduced
pain and reduced length of stay in hospital but crucially, robot assisted surgery
also tends to result in less blood loss, which is much safer for the patient.
Part 3. Working in teams
110
Question 2
Robot team-working using game theory is driven by what central principle?
• Maximising the reward for each robot and the team.
• Minimising the conflict between each robot on the team.
• Maximising the coordination amongst team players.
• Minimising the outside threats to each robot and the team.
In game theory, robots are rewarded for successfully coordinating to accomplish a given task.
It is the reward that drives coordination amongst the robots.
Question 3
Two robots need to meet up in the same location to cooperatively perform a task. The robots can meet in location A or B.
Using game theory, the robots can determine a strategy to solve this
problem.
Which of the reward tables below correctly represents this game?
Note, a reward is indicated by a ‘1’, and no reward is indicated by a ‘0’.
Location A
Location B
Location A
1,1
0,0
Location B
0,0
0,0
Location A
Location B
Location A
0,0
1,1
Location B
1,1
0,0
Location A
Location B
Location A
0,0
0,0
Location B
0,0
1,1
Location A
Location B
Location A
1,1
0,0
Location B
0,0
1,1
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]