Computers are doing more for us now than ever, including acting as scouts on dangerous military missions. In this episode, we discuss robots and their many uses.
Guests
Maria Gini
Maria Gini
Professor Maria Gini is a Morse-Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of computer science at the University of Minnesota. She teaches courses on computer programming, artificial intelligence, and robotics. She is currently doing research on distributed robotics and medical language. On today's show, she's going to show us a robotic dog.
Nikos Papanikolopoulos
Nikos Papanikolopoulos
Professor Nikos Papanikolopoulos is the director of the Center for Distributed Robotics at the University of Minnesota. He's been a professor at the University for 13 years, where he teaches and does research on computer vision, artificial intelligence, and robotic systems. For this program, he's brought one of the reconnaissance robots that he's developed.
For Your Files
Maria Gini, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota, described robotics:
"It's a field of science and engineering. And I think what is fascinating is that it's a mixture of engineering—you have to build something. A robot has a physical body, so you need plastic, mechanical [equipment], gears, metal—all sorts of things. You also have programs, because to be a robot, you have to build something that can do different things."
Maria said that most people expect robots to be able to make at least some decisions:
"Often people use the term 'artificial intelligence' when they talk about robotics because you want to make the robot be intelligent. They have to make decisions; that makes sense to us, because if they don't, then we say, 'Oh, this is a dumb robot. It doesn't do anything good.'"
Nikos Popanikaloupolis, a professor of in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, said that even though robots are getting more and more advanced, they shouldn't be left without human guidance:
"There is some autonomy; for example, this device can find a dark spot, can follow a wall, and so on, but we always want a human to be the ultimate decision maker. I wouldn't trust a robot."
Nikos also said that the purpose of surveillance robots is to protect humans:
"We view this as assistive technology. We keep the human as far as possible from the danger, or from the action. And then we provide all the necessary information to the human. And I think this is where the real value for this device is."
There are no Tech Terms for this episode.