History and Philosophy of Robotics

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1 Foundations of Robotics Rod Grupen Department of Computer Science University of Massachusetts Amherst History and Philosophy of Robotics 2

The Iliad (850 BC) a great epic describing the Trojan war, a world of mythical automata, where men do not act autonomously, but are instead controlled by Gods.

2 The Iliad (850 BC) a great epic describing the Trojan war, a world of mythical automata, where men do not act autonomously, but are instead controlled by Gods. Hephaestus, the divinity of mechanical arts and master of the forge, fabricates golden, three-legged automata with wheels that would mingle with other gods during get togethers and then return to their place and put themselves away. Statues that moved of their own accord were built by the legendary and mythical Daedalus (whose son was the famous Icarus), prototype of mechanical genius. Plato claimed that these statues had to be prevented from running away. Among them was a figure of Venus rendered mobile when quicksilver was poured into it according to Aristotle. 3 Aristotle Aristotle conceived of two kinds of knowledge: one describing immortal, eternal principles, and one grounded in embodiment the physical realm is constantly changing, and models of it are mediated by the value that they contribute to the agent. A form of dualism that Descarte would later pick up again. 4

3 Early Robots 1350 Rooster flapping wings and on top of Cathedral in Strasbourg, France Town Hall, Munich, Germany Renaissance 1497 Clock Tower in Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy 5 5 Leonardo da Vinci in 1495: First Real Robot? Automaton may have looked like this Vitruvian Man 6 6

Social Upheaval King Edward VI of England (1552) bans automatic machines for shearing sheep in order to preserve the livelihood of the peasant class.

4 Social Upheaval King Edward VI of England (1552) bans automatic machines for shearing sheep in order to preserve the livelihood of the peasant class. Later, his sister, Elizabeth I, outlawed the production of a loom for the same purpose. Both monarchs believed that these new technologies threatened to destabilize social structures. 7 Descartes ( ) Duality: two parallel universes humans are machines, possessing an animal spirit that inhabits space and time to receive stimuli from the environment and produce motor responses. Humans are conscious and consciousness need not conform to physics the two universes interacted in the pineal gland to create the dual nature of the human condition. 8

5 Jacques de Vaucanson s Duck (ca. 1738) 9 The Writer of Droz, 1774 Writer Draughtsman 10

6 Maillardet, Maillardet,

7 Watt s Governor (1788) 13 Galvani (1791) from the University of Bologna, was one of the first to conduct and experimental investigation of phenomenon known as bioelectrogenesis. electric current causes the contraction of the muscles in the leg of a frog when applied directly to the muscle or at a distance through a nerve. conceived of animal electricity - a fluid secreted by the brain that flows through nerves to activate muscles. Mary Shelley (1818) 14

8 Boilerplate, 1893 with Pancho Villa Karel!apek s R.U.R., 1920 robot - from robota, meaning serf labor, drudgery, hard work, servitude 16 16

Westinghouse s Electro, 1940 17 17 Isaac Asimov: Runaround, 1942 0.

(added after the initial three laws in Robots and Empire) 1.

9 Westinghouse s Electro, Isaac Asimov: Runaround, A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. (added after the initial three laws in Robots and Empire) 1. A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 18

10 Shakey (SRI, 1968) and Mobie (Stanford,?) 19 Stanford Scheinman Arm,

11 Star Wars R2-D2 and C-3PO 21 PUMA, 1978 Joseph Engelberger Unimation s Programmable Universal Machine for Assembly (PUMA) 22

Synthetic Psychology - 1984 Valentino Braitenberg Uphill Analysis Downhill

12 Synthetic Psychology Valentino Braitenberg Uphill Analysis Downhill Invention 23 Biomemetics: Lobster 1992 Joseph Ayers Northeastern full neural emulation 24

13 CMU Dante exploring Antarctica's Mount Erebus volcano. 25 MIT Leg Lab Marc Raibert 26

14 Biomemetics Deaths Head Cockroach death head cockroach full gait simulation full neural simulation 27 Commercial Toys 1998 Furby $ AIBO $

15 Da Vinci Surgical Robot - ca $1.2M 29 Market Acceptability - Roomba inexpensive, reliable, functional 30

16 HONDA Asimo 1986 maybe $500M! DLR s Justin a mobile manipulator 32

17 Biomemetics: BigDog Boston Dynamics Marc Raibert 33 Biomemetics: BigDog

18 ubot: a mobile manipulator a spatial Roger 35 ubot: UMass Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics 36

19 The Organized Infant Landau Reflex - superman pose, legs reflexively drop down into flexion when the infant s head is pushed down 37 Developmental Trajectory the inspiration for our sequential programming project hierarchy 38

20 we begin by studying the basic motor controllers that make the robot move. 39 New Programming Paradigms 40

Industrial Robotics. Claudio Melchiorri. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell Energia Elettrica e dell Informazione (DEI) Università di Bologna

Industrial Robotics. Claudio Melchiorri. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell Energia Elettrica e dell Informazione (DEI) Università di Bologna Industrial Robotics Claudio Melchiorri Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell Energia Elettrica e dell Informazione (DEI) Università di Bologna email: claudio.melchiorri@unibo.it C. Melchiorri (DEI) Industrial