An anthropomimetic machine is a machine that mimics human behavior. While the thought of a machine having two arms and two legs isn’t new to us, the cutting edge ideas behind some of the more advanced efforts in anthropomimetics might stir up a bit of controversy. For example, the auto industry lost tens of thousands of jobs when human workers were replaced by robots on the assembly line.
If anthropomimetic robots start to look and act more like humans what other jobs might they take? These fears are vastly overrated as stated by the CRONOS team at the University of Bristol, “the only resemblance these robots have to real humans is external and superficial: they look like us, but their operational principles are so far removed from our own that there is little prospect that their incremental refinement will result in anything better than more of the same.”
What is CRONOS?
CRONOS was designed and built by Rob Knight and Owen Holland for the Machine Consciousness Lab run by the universities of Bristol and Sussex. It is a very simple idea that has very complex needs. It is an attempt at a full scale anthropomimetic machine that uses multiple computers and devices to create the illusion of interacting with a human. Over the last decade universities, research institutes, automobile and consumer electronics companies, and even toy manufacturers have surrounded us with demonstrations, prototypes, and commercial products, and we can see them walking on two legs, picking up small objects, and so on.
According to researchers at the Essex Campus of Bristol University, “CRONOS was an initial design study, investigating materials, actuators, joints, and morphology.” Since then it has moved on to a second phase using stronger motors and a more stable structure. CRONOS is designed to mimic not only the motions but the internal structures of humans (bones, joints, and muscles) giving it a duplicate structure that provided a ready-made blueprint for designers.
What Components Comprise CRONOS?
CRONOS is made from some standard components that are available at any hardware store: nuts, bolts, screws, actuated motors, and wood. CRONOS2 however is a step up with the bones being made of thermoplastic polymorph, tendons of kiteline, muscles powered by actuated screwdriver motors, and the elastic portion of the muscle is made from shock cord (bungee cord). The change from wooden prototype bones to the thermoplastic polymorph allowed for the sculpting of bones that were quite close to human in size and shape unlike the clunky approximations of the original CRONOS design.
Project researcher Owen Holland, a professor of computer science at the University of Essex and an expert in biologically inspired robotics, revealed in an interview with Popular Mechanics magazine that “many of the robot’s bones and joints were modeled using Gray’s Anatomy and medical texts as references. The muscles are connected to the bones by elastic tendons (actually, bungee and shock cords) to form a series-elastic combination.”
So What Does This Mean to Me?
Honestly, the answer to this question depends on long term versus short term goals. In the short term this project is on the cutting edge of science and offers a new way to look at the problem of integrating robots into human society. CRONOS succeeded in integrating several autonomous computer programs to produce an individual (or collective depending on the point of view) machine that mimics human response and has a very fundamental ability to learn.
In the long term, anthropomimetic machines may replace several of the impersonal machines we already interact with today. They may end up as the new ATM machines, grocery checkout clerks, library assistants, and a host of other jobs that our society has already delegated to computers. They would be able to bring that feeling of personal interaction to everyday experience and allow people to be more at ease with the coming machine age.
Are These the Machines We Should Fear?
After watching the endless Hollywood portrayals of human created Artificial Intelligence it may be hard to embrace humanoid robots, but these machines are a far cry from the AI in movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and I, Robot. They are much more akin to ancient ancestors of robots like Andrew in Bicentennial Man, Alien, and AI. They are very early, primitive prototypes of what may ultimately be seen as tools to make society safer. These anthropomimetic machines may eliminate the need for humans to risk their lives in dangerous jobs as their predecessors already have in professions like bomb removal.
Of course there is always the potential to use this type of technology for harm rather than good, although this is true of all technology. Technology neither inherently good nor evil. Fearing the creation of an anthropomimetic machine is an extension of fearing the unknown intentions of the creators. The CRONOS project was not developed to create sentient robots nor has that become one of the major goals. It is simply an attempt to acclimate robots to a human world so that their interactions would become more fluid and they could integrate into our current society. Thus, understanding developers' goals and intentions should eliminate any apprehension associated with CRONOS and its future incarnations.
Resources
“Antropomimetic Machines” Genomicon.com. Aug 2009. Accessed July 2010.
Cronosproject.net Accessed July 2010.
“Will Anthropomimetic Machines Ever Rule?” Popular Mechanics. Feb 2010. Accessed July 2010.
Kenneth Sleight - Ken Sleight is a resident of Haslett, Mi. He was voted among his friends as, "most likely to be the phone a friend on Who Wants to be a ...
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