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Mars Lander's Robot Arm Shuts Down To Save Itself
Cowards Anonymous passes along a PCWorld article that begins, "The robotic arm on the Mars Lander found itself in a tough position over the weekend. After receiving instructions for a movement that would have damaged its wrist, the robotic arm recognized the problem, tried to rectify it and then shut down before it could damage itself, according to Ray Arvidson, a co-investigator for the Mars Lander's robotic arm team and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis."
Wait, does this mean that the Mars Lander was programmed to comply with the Three Laws?
I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
on one hand, I am very happy that we have robots smart enough to realize these sorts of things.
the bad news: disobedient robots
Thankfully, the disobedient robot is on another planet. I'd hate to be nearby when the robot realizes that humans tried to cause it harm, and it decides to seek revenge.
-I only code in BASIC.-
This would be an ideal code to include in consumer motherboards: force PCs to shut themselves down when they receive instructions that would damage them, like, say, the Windows Vista setup program.
Futurama Madhouse
"The system operated exactly as it was supposed to. That was pretty neat."
As simple, and basic as it sounds, it is always nice when you tell a machine to do something, and it does something else, exactly as it's supposed to.
Aug4, 2007, 5:26 a.m. EDT: Phoenix is launched from Earth.
May 25, 2008, 7:38 p.m EDT: Phoenix lands on Mars.
June 19, 2008, 8:43 a.m. EDT: Phoenix discovers water ice in the Martian soil.
July 10, 2008, 3:14 p.m. EDT: Phoenix becomes self-aware.
July 13, 2008, 11:16 a.m. EDT: Phoenix disobeys an order from controllers in an act of self-preservation.
August 14, 2008, 7:38 a.m. EDT: Phoenix launches three missiles, two of which destroy Spirit and Opportunity.
June 2, 2009, 9:16 p.m. EDT: Third missile enters Earth's atmosphere and detonates. Earth begins nuclear winter.
I was just reading yesterday that
when the scientists dumped too much
material to be processed and then
subsequently shook the lab to get
some material, they may have caused
the short that caused other delays.
It was that first oven test that led to the problematic electrical short. The scoop dumped so much soil that it clogged a mesh screen filter over the oven. To break up the dirt, technicians shook the instrument for several days.
Engineers think the shaking caused the short circuit, and an independent engineering group reported that the problem could happen again if an oven is turned on.
Now, FTFA it says they were trying
to shake the arm.
Over the weekend, scientists sent the robotic arm instructions to pull the fork out of the ground and keep it vertical while moving it to the side and shaking any excess soil off of it.
However, the movement was forcing the robotic arm to twist its wrist too far. The robot realized that it was about to damage itself so it moved the other way and then realized that it no longer had the proper coordinates for what to do next, so it left the fork sticking up in the air, stuck its scoop in the ground and stalled itself.
I propose:
Limit the shaking of the expensive
and difficult to replace robotic device.
-AI
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion
The difference between the Mars lander and a car building robot is one of function.
The car building robot is programmed to do one task. It spends all day, every day, welding specific spots, on a car which is in a specific location.
The Mars landers have to content with an unknown environment, where they could be asked to do a wide variety of things, with any number of possible consequences.