GRACE Exceeds Expectations!

smashr writes "GRACE, the robot mentioned earlier on slashdot, has succeeded in the AAAI challenge at the conference in Canada. Her creators are saying that GRACE exceeded their expectations. The entire competition went well with only several minor hiccups (GRACE cut in front of a judge in line to register, and then demanded a conference badge several times). The team is looking forward towards refining GRACE for the competition in Mexico. Stories at: CNN.com, Yahoo, and the Edmonton Journal."

Comments

What they're good at.

[drox]

The GRACE design team deserves kudos, but I still think that robots/AI should primarily be designed and programmed to do things that humans are BAD at, like searching through dangerous rubble, or performing fine manipulations in toxic or extreme-temperature environments, rather than doing things that humans are already quite GOOD at, like schmoozing. There are billions of people available who already know how to schmooze, and they can learn new schmoozing rules quickly, on the fly, without costly reprogramming. There are very few who would be willing (to say nothing of able) to work in a hazardous or tiny confining environment.

Re:[insert intelligent comment here]

[drudd]

The real problem with implementing Asimov's three laws is interpreting when your actions will break them.

The very top of the line research in AI might be able to recognize a human being under idealized circumstances.

So how are we supposed to tell our robots "don't run over a human's foot, since that's injuring a human, and that action violates the first law" when the robot can't distinguish between a human foot and a stain on the carpet.

Doug