The Lem Objection
Are Human-Like Robots Feasible? Maybe. Are They Worth the Trouble? Maybe Not.
The other day I got an announcement from Oregon State University that it has captured the Guinness World speed record for a robot running the 100-meter dash — just under 25 seconds. This is impressive (no falls! the press release said). It is also a lot slower than the human record (less than 9.6 seconds). Which is a reminder that many actions that are easy for humans are fiendishly difficult for machines. Running (or walking) on two feet (with no falling over!) is one of those. Which is why some knowledgeable people (for example, Gary Marcus) are skeptical of tomorrow's Tesla demo of a human-shaped robot.
But then, why do robots need to run around on two feet? Why not give them a more stable four, as "robot dogs" have? Or five legs, or 20, or a nice set of wheels? Many successful robots take the path I wrote about last year: Give robots those parts of human work that are inherently "robot friendly" (for example, "wander around this …