The iCub is the humanoid robot developed at IIT as part of the EU project RobotCub and subsequently adopted by more than 20 laboratories worldwide. It has 53 motors that move the head, arms, hands, waist, and legs, using accelerometers and gyroscopes. It can see and hear; and it has the sense of proprioception (body configuration). The main goal is to study cognition through the implementation of a humanoid robot the size of a three-year-old child. (Source: icub.org)
Maybe this is my imagination running wild, William K, but I do wonder if software programs in some of our safety-critical systems will get so larded up that no one will be able to spot big chunks of code coming from unknown sources. I suppose the same could be said of future robots.
"So for ever person that works in this country, there is another person who cannot will not work because there is no work he can do (or will do)."
FI... I have known far too many free loaders to be okay with the current universal excuse that there are no jobs. Of course there are those who honestly need assistance (the truly handicapped for example). But my experience has taught me that there are loads of able bodied people riding in the cart and laughing at those of us pulling it along.
Best quote ever... when I suggested that a mobile radiologist who could no longer drive all day get a job at a medical facility... 'Oh I can't work stuck in an office with the same people all day'.
That was 5 years ago and he has never worked a day since, still can go play music all over the place though. And he's been camping too... But looking for work is not on the list anymore.
And there's the trucker who rolled his truck, and made the 6 o'clock news... He's been riding the cart for 3 years now cause... 'no one will hire me right now'. He should be adding 'to drive... so I'm looking for something else'. But that is not his plan... He'll stay unemployed until the checks dry up. That is the system that has been put in place.
The answer starts with taking a good look at who is riding in the cart and why. Many need to be made uncomfortable about being on the dole, but that won't be happening any time soon.
I guess we better hurry those robots along so they can help pull this cart...
In response to ChasChas, the products that can't be produced by robots or cheap labor is insight and understanding. Those, and creativity, simply because it requires insight. Robotics and automation can indeed produce new random collections, but all of that must be programmed in somehow.
What I am able to sell is my understanding of systems and how to get them working again, when they fail. Insight allows me to bypass a lot of diagnostics and find the problem faster than others.
So there is still something that some of us can do that neither machines nor automation can approach. HAH!
Sorry, I was responding to an earlier part of this discussion that your post was connected to.
Time was - everyone made what they needed for themselves.
Then they specialized at making fewer things and traded with others.
Now it's getting so machines make most everything - so a big part of the people have no trading status because they cannot compete against the machines.
My post has nothing to do with political correctness or religion. My point is simply that the digital age does not require as much manpower as the industrial age did. I guess its more a question of logistics. What do we do with all the unemployed people?
So now we have to be politically correct with a machine?
We all know we have freedom of expression - p.c. is a farce and unconstitutional. It is just another way that evil reverses everything good upon itself. Only our spiritual side can keep us straight - the mind alone is lost.
Civil is the right word - we all need to be civil.
"I suspect that eventually the supply of cheap labor will fall, unless we keep the current politicians in office who maintain the open borders"
I strongly disagree with this statement. Population growth coupled with imergration makes the pool of workers in the USA larger every year. MEanwhile, advances in robotics and computers are reducing the number of jobs available for that growing labor pool. Eventually this will lead to a massive decline in skilled as well as unskilled jobs. I don't see any easy way out of this dynamic. more and more people on the dole through no fault of their own. Does anyone have any idea of how to deal with this?
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
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At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
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For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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