The Robots are Coming

An anonymous reader writes "LinuxDevices.com's new 'Linux-powered Robots Quick Reference Guide' offers an interesting glimpse into of some Linux-powered robots currently available or near production, and provides an extensive reading list with further information on Linux in robotics. According to a fascinating article at TechNewsWorld, Linux is poised to play a centrol role in an emerging industry that many expect to overtake the PC industry in size: robotics. Japan is currently driving robot innovation, according to the article, impelled by a looming labor shortage. Consumer robots like the Sony Aibo and Honda Asimo make headlines, but ubiquitous, cheap, and practical utility robots are what most Japanese robot makers are focused on, and 'carmaker Honda believes that robots will become its most important business,' according to the TechNewsWorld article. Watch out -- the Linux-powered robots are on the march!"

Comments

We prefer...

[Anonymous Coward]

..the term "Electronic-American", you insensitive carbon-based clods!

Linux-powered robots?

[paul248]

Finally, a solution to our needless dependence on batteries!

yeesh...

[wrinkledshirt]

Japan is currently driving robot innovation, according to the article, impelled by a looming labor shortage.

Ugh. I get as excited about robots and Linux as much as anybody, but the semi-marxist in me gets a little freaked out by things like this.

How long before innovation that can take the role of a worker in a labor-shortage environment ends up being used to replace real people in a labor-glutted environment?

Re:yeesh...

[JanneM]

A good question.

But, don't forget that the "robotics revolution" is really a pretty long-term thing, and long-term, demographics show that population - especially the work-age population - is or will be trending downwards in more and more countries. For most industrialized countries, "labour glut" is simply not happening thirty to fifty years down the line.

What is happening (and has really been happening for a long time already) is that automation tends to remove the jobs that are the most brainless, dangerous or repetitive, at the same time creating new (but fewer) jobs "higher up" in the organization - as somebody already said, you need people to design, deploy and manage the automation systems. It does mean that education and training is becoming steadily more important, however. We are already long gone fron the days when someone could attend just grammar school, then start a job and learn in place. Twenty or thirty years down the line, having a high school diploma only will likely be similarily useless.

Re:yeesh...

[JJahn]

Well...right now is when robots will replace people. For example, I work as a web developer at an investment casting company. We extensively use robotics throughout our process, and I would say we are probably the most automated investment caster in the world.

Where the robots excel are at the jobs that finding reliable people for is almost impossible. Its hard to find people who will take factory positions and do a good job at it. Keep in mind though, that the more robots there are, the more high-paying programming, troubleshooting, etc. jobs that are made to support them.

Oh, and its really cool to watch robots dip molds or pour molten steel ;)

Re:yeesh...

[Imperator]

Oh, but I'd love to live in a world where robots did all the work. Where I showed up to work one day a week to code the robots a bit, and spent the rest of my time in leisure pursuits. The only problem is that won't happen. We constantly want more. If we were happy with our current standard of living we could steadily reduce the workweek for decades to come. But instead Americans are working ever longer and harder.

No, right now we have solved the problem of scarcity at a level Marx never dreamed of. If we wanted to, we could eliminate (not just reduce) poverty, homelessness, and hunger in America. It would take a massive shift in values, but it would not be technically or economically difficult. If we aren't doing these things now, why should we think that robotics (or any other technological improvements) will change that? No, we'll just keep working our asses off so we can get shiny new cell phones every six months.

But all that will probably be denounced as socialism by some knee-jerk American. As far as I'm concerned, the advanced societies of this century are the ones being built in Western Europe. They are not perfect, but they are trying new things and consciously trying to leverage the economic and political successes of the last 55 years into better societies. America is falling behind, and that worries me.

Perhaps...

[Azureflare]

Perhaps our social labor structure needs some redesigning? Perhaps not everyone needs to work nearly as hard as we are?

I think the developments in robotics are going to force us to seriously reconsider our philosophy about life. If robots can do what we do now, better, what are we here for?

Personally, I'll welcome the day when robots can do all our work for us, and I can go and relax on the beach all day long.

Re:Perhaps...

[wrinkledshirt]

Personally, I'll welcome the day when robots can do all our work for us, and I can go and relax on the beach all day long.

But how are you going to be able to purchase the necessary commodities of life? Food/shelter/clothing and all that?

It's not like the people who have these robots are going to donate the fruits of their labour for free.

Re:Perhaps...

[Azureflare]

True... That would be really horrible if the corporations used the robots for all the work and then charged for the fruits of those labors. If those corporations in charge of the use of the robots decide to do such a thing (which is likely, given the fact that they want profits more than anything), there are going to be a lot of poor in the world...

I think now is a time when ethics and morals are really, really important in our capitalistic society. Without them, we are at the mercy of those who can develop such systems.

Re:Perhaps...

[JanneM]

But the companies will be paying taxes on their income, right? As will the people that do have a job (and those jobs are likely very highly paid; if they didn't need very qualified people for them, they would have automated as well, right?). So the government will still have quite a lot of income.

What would be needed is a social coverage system that does make allowances for having perhaps 50%-80% unemployment; in essence, "unemployment" would need to cease to be an abberration at all, and become the norm. In effect, you'd have everybody - having work or not - on a basic income (that may be purely monetary, or in a hybrid form) that gives you a basic but decent standard of living.

Now, I'm sure free-market people are busting a vein right now, but consider the alternative: having more than half the population with no money, no work, and no prospects of ever getting either? Can you spell "riots", "looting", "crime wave" and "insurgency"? I knew you could!

This is all of course contingent on the assumption of the parent posters that new work opportunities aren't opening up in sufficient numbers.

Also, there is a world of options in between our current 40h+ work week and "relax on the beach all day long". You have quite different amount of work being done in different parts of the world already; in Europe, we generally work quite a bit less than in the US for instance; valuing the extra hours of off time more than the added income. You could imagine a future where the normal work week could be an average of 10 hours or so (maybe as 20 hours per week for half the year).

Take this to the bank

[paiute]

There is no reason for any individual to have a robot in his home.

OT, but still...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Japan is currently driving robot innovation, according to the article, impelled by a looming labor shortage..."

Excuse me?? Japan, with a labor shortage? This is the same Japan w/ the huge unemployment rate, runaway deflation, and enormous national deficit, right? Or, is this some other Japan I haven't heard about yet?

Looming labor shortage, my ass - robotic workers can't form unions, don't need health insurance, don't go on strike, don't quit, don't disobey orders, yada yada yada.

Corporate Japan's fascination with robotic workers has nothing to do with a 'looming labor shortage', and everything to do with eliminating the blue-collar worker to increase the white-collar's income.

Bastards.

Re:OT, but still...

[Rasta Prefect]

Excuse me?? Japan, with a labor shortage? This is the same Japan w/ the huge unemployment rate, runaway deflation, and enormous national deficit, right? Or, is this some other Japan I haven't heard about yet?

This is the Japan with an extremely low birthrate and a population aging faster than any other in the first world. This is the Japan that not too many years down the road is going to have one retired worker for every productive one. This is the Japan where labor just costs too damn much to be able to justify doing manufacturing there.

You already have several robots in your home

[wowbagger]

There is no reason for any individual to have a robot in his home.

You already have several robots in your home, more than likely:

• You have a robot for cleaning your dishes
• You have a robot for cleaning your clothes
• You have a robot for drying your clothes
• You have a robot for maintaining the temperature of your house

In addition, there are folks like me who have robots for preparing their coffee in the morning. Some have robots for baking bread, and for making ice cream.

Most people make the mistake of thinking ROBOT = anthropomorphic device but that is not true.

Now, if you want to say "There is no reason for any individual to have an anthropromorphic robot in their home" you are correct, today

But as my mother, who was born in the 1920's once said to me, "When I was your age, if somebody had told me I would have a computer in the home, I would not have believed them - simply because I could not have seen any use for one." This, as she was playing cards on her computer.

Be careful, or you may find yourself up there with the "there is a market for 6 computers in the world", or the (non-quote) "640K is enough for anybody".

Re:You already have several robots in your home

[paiute]

I think there is a world market for maybe five robots. I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that robotics is a fad that won't last out the year.

Robots are Coming?

[twoslice]

Sounds like Data and Tasha Yar are at it again...

when governments no longer need citizens...

[LionKimbro]

There is a saying:

"What happens when goverments no longer need citizens?"

It applies just as much to the network of corporations as it does to the network of governments.

Re:What I am surprised by NOT seeing yet

[MarkJensen]

In fact, McDonalds did a very specific test of robotics in their food lines. It was a Fanuc A-510 that had its cast components replaced so it had a stainless steel body (for wash-down purposes). It also had the regular grease replaced with non-toxic grease. It was edible, but NOT tasty! :P You can see archive.orgs cache of a page that mentions the A-510's successor, the A-520i, here. Needless to say, it never made it past the initial study.

Also, to be technical, there is a difference between the term "robot" and what is called "hard automation". I have seen people claim that a dishwasher is a robot. It is not. A robot is programmable and multi-functional. A dishwasher has a single purpose (two if you count torturing the cat). The same is applied to factory automation that is driven by automated equipmet runnign off of cams or pneumatic/hydraulic cylinders. Those are "hard automation" devices, as they perform a single function until they are mechanically altered.

More Photos of Robots

[rpiquepa]

In addition to the Linux Devices guide, Paul Baron spent some time shooting 61 pictures during the 2003 International Robot Exposition in Tokyo about two weeks ago. (Warning: navigation is somewhat difficult; the screen is getting refresh when you just want to scroll). Here is a link to a shorter selection. And for more information about Linux-based robots, you can take a peek at a former overview, "Real-Time Linux Robots Are Coming."

They do

[bluGill]

Back when I worked at McDonalds (I quit in 1995) we already had a robot to fill the fry baskets, we just took a basket off the machine, and put it in the fryer. Nearly all McDonalds have this machine now.

This machine is actualy a spinoff from the fully robotic fryer. McDonalds had a fryer delivered that you poured froozen frys in one end, and out the other came fully cooked frys. That machine was too expensive for most stores to justify purchasing, (at current wages anyway...) but the figgured they could make the basket filler a seperate machine for a reasonable price and save come labor there. Eventially all stores will have the full robot, but not until prices come down a little more.

The fryer will come before the robotic grill, because while either can be done, the fryer is much more dangerious. More serious burns result from accidewnts involving the fryer than the grill. However McDonalds can't figgure out how to make money putting the robotic fryer in each resteraunt. (higher prices won't sell in thie buisness)