What makes us human? Is it a mind, intelligence, the ability to learn new things? Is it the light shining in the eyes of a baby when she begins to wake up to the world around here, look around and take it all in? If so, scientists in Japan are hoping to expand all our definitions with the world's first robot that learns like a human child.
Called the Child-robot with Biomimetic Body, or CB2, the invention was unveiled two years ago and has made enormous progress since then. Rather than being programmed to walk, talk, and perform tasks, the CB2 is designed to learn to do those things by watching and interacting with human beings -- just like your kids do!
Developed by a team led by Osaka University professor Minoru Asada, CB2 has sensors under its "skin" to recognize human touch, and can "see" and understand (or at least categorize) the facial expressions of the people who care for it. Asada hopes that in a couple of years CB2 will be talking with the vocabulary and syntax of the average two-year-old child.
According to Asada, robots with human qualities are an easier sell in Japanese culture because of longstanding spriritual beliefs.
"Everything
has a mind -- the mind of the lamp, the mind of the chair, the soul of
the desk."
"Therefore
the machines should have their mind too. If we proceed in this study,
machines may have something like a human mind or 'robo-mind."
It's a fascinating experiment, but it makes me wonder why anyone would want to engineer a machine to act like a two-year-old child. My two-year-old is a ball of obsessions, enthusiasm and whining. He's lovely and I love him, but I'm not sure anyone would pay to have him in their house. I suppose the idea behind CB2 is that by learning how children learn, we can perhaps develop therapies to help children who aren't learning, or who learn differently. And if that's the goal, it's a great one. But as for me, I like my kids messy, unpredictable, and sans micro-chip.
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