Robot Age

Robots aren't going away:

Robots have long been used in manufacturing, healthcare, space exploration, and autonomous vehicles. Today’s AI-infused robots can do much more than their earlier counterparts, though that can also include delivering packages and flipping burgers as well as assisting in surgeries and doing high-risk chores in the mining and construction industries. Forbes’ glowing report suggested that humanoid robots can help humans learn even as they do household chores – but they can also help us address macroeconomic issues such as energy insecurity, climate change, and healthcare challenges. By both performing tedious, repetitive tasks while at the same time teaching us how to better protect the natural environment, they can help humans create a more sustainable future. Best of all, said Forbes, robots and AI offer us the promise of a more equitable and just society. Elon Musk, who famously forecasted that “there will be tens of billions” of humanoid robots serving humanity by 2040, says that everyone will want to have their own personal C-3PO or R2-D2, but even better. One of the leaders in the development of humanoid robots, Foundation Robotics founding CEO Sankaet Pathak, says that his creations are addressing critical challenges – defense, manufacturing, logistics, and labor -- those that stand in the way of expanding the scope and scale of human consciousness. Without the automation that robots bring, he contends, expansion will continue to come at the cost of human lives. In a recent interview, Pathak admitted that when he started Foundation Robotics, he was confronted by two big criticisms – that his machines would replace humans and that they would take away from humanity the very meaning of life. But soldiers and factory workers alike were so thrilled with their new “assistants” that they had their photos taken with them. One reason is that the jobs being automated are those with a 100% turnover rate – jobs no one cherished. “When I started Foundation Robotics,” Pahtak said, “...my goal was to build technology that makes life self-sustaining for humans." "Robots provide infinite labor, energy, and resources. Fleets of robots can build and defend cities and operate in battlefield environments. They can also perform most inspection and maintenance repairs for the U.S. military, especially in areas that put humans at risk and all the while doing so in austere environments, and across a wide range of temperatures".

At least we can remember when they were still science fiction: