Review
An easier life in the future
—review of latest innovations
1. Human-thought control robots.
The product you see above is a new invention come up by Japan’s Honda Research Institute. This new product allows users to control the robot only by using their mind. The picture here demonstrates this feature by showing you that after the user thtought of a movement of his own left hand, without any physical movement, the robot moved its left hand according to the user’s thought. It is said that an accuracy rate of 90% has been achieved in the test. The scientific rationale behind this device is called Brain-Machine Interface Technology (BMI) which makes use of “electroencephalography and near-infrared spectroscopy sensors that monitor electrical brainwaves and cerebral blood flow”(Humphries 2009 ).
After reading its introduction, the first thing came to my mind was its huge potential benefits this device can bring to patients, who are unable to move their body or to speak. This kind of robots would emancipate their nurses or relatives from attending them day and night. Furthermore, robots do not have emotions and will not get tired or bored, thus further lower the possible dangers in the attending process.
Reference: Humphries, M (2009, Apr 1) Retrieved 2009-9-8 from
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/honda-updates-asimo-robot-with-thought-control-2009041/
2. Housekeeping robots
These two pictures show you a newly invented housekeeping robot which was designed in the university of Tokyo. It is about the normal height of a human being, weighted 130 kilograms and moves through its two wheels. Though its appearance seems quite unwieldy, but it is a quite deft and careful housekeeper. It can pour a cup of tea without spilling a single drop of water. It can wash your dishes day after day without complaining. The secrets behind this ingenious design are its force sensors on its hands and “binocular color camera for stereo vision”. A more special feature about this robot is that it can learn from mistakes. If it breaks a cup, it will adjust its movement and will not make the same mistakes again.
This invention is really helpful for our society which is now facing more and more significant aging problems. With the help of these housekeeping robots, older people will have less chores to care about which will give them an easier and more comfortable life and their offspring will also have less worries about their parents’ life.
After introducing their huge potential benefits to you, I also have some concerns about these robots. My question is this: does ‘easier’ means ‘happier’? In the official introduction of human-thought control robots, the benefits the institute mentioned is actually mainly focused on how normal people will benefit from this—such as doing less housework, controlling the air-conditioner or TV without a movement etc. However, for the world today where more and more problems associating with obesity are popping up, this device may further deteriorate some young lazy people’s health problems. What’s more, we are also losing funs from interacting with the nature and the people around us. I still remember one of my friends once told me that she yearned for the time when we ate nuts by peeling them ourselves. Yes, it took people a lot of efforts, but also because of that process, they become tastier than the manufactured ones. Another example is a cartoon I saw when I was young. In its predicted future, people do not need to do anything. Every one just sat in a mini-car and after pushing some buttons, their cars will carry them to anywhere and provide them with any necessities they want. Are we now going into this direction? And is this the life we really want in the future? I think it is a question for all of us to think about.
Original websites:
http://www.jsk.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/research/hrp2w/index.htm
http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20070301/this-robot-can-serve-you-tea-and-wash-the-dishes/
Chinese version: http://www.cctv.com/program/dysj/20081218/105439.shtml
By Liu Yanan
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