Herself’s Artificial Intelligence

Entirely too cool and too weird. We have robots that can do surgery at 1.8gs but not one that can put the laundry away. Does this mean housewives are going to be harder to replace than doctors?

. . . To demonstrate how that research is progressing, Silicon Valley-based SRI International and the University of Cincinnati held a series of tests this past September that sound like a cross between a PR stunt and a B-movie: human doctors squaring off against a robotic surgeon aboard a nose-diving DC-9 aircraft.During periods of zero gravity and sustained acceleration of 1.8 g’s, a robot made incisions and applied sutures on simulated tissue, while a human surgeon did the same. The purpose: to measure just how precise a remote-operated robot can be, especially in a turbulent or gravity-free environment. SRI hasn’t released its results, but according to PM Advisory Board member Dr. Ken Kamler, who participated in one of the flight tests, the robot seemed to hold its own?until its compensation software was turned off. “The difference was huge,” Kamler says. “It was virtually impossible [for it] to tie a knot.” But with compensation engaged, the bot performed as well as it did on Earth.And so the tests’ true purpose was to showcase SRI’s software. . . . [ read more Robot Surgeons Closer Than You Think]

The truth of the matter is that economics drives robotic development. When the robot is cheaper than the worker we replace the worker with a robot.

More information:
Prepping Robots to Perform Surgery
SRI International Medical Product Development