Technological Singularity

Technological Singularity

(The red is human progress) (Green is robot)

The technological singularity is the hypothetical period of time when robots will surpass the intelligence of humans and creating artificial intelligence or AI. Soon enough we will have advanced enough technology that will let us upload our conscious into it. Because robots have no feelings or emotion, they have no conscious. This is what makes a human, human. Without it, we would also be lifeless robots to sit and wait to be programmed by other beings. This point in time will take place between 2030-2045. If this happens, robots can change the worlds nature and make a big impact to humans and their lives.

The history of the Technological Singularity

First quoted by, John von Neumann, used Singularity in the 1950s said "Ever accelerating the process

of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them could not continue." This quote is based on the facts that accelerating the process of technology can change the life of humans and effect them in good or bad ways.
Next, Alan Turning had talked about robots passing humans in intelligence and once robots started that thinking, they will no longer need humans to help.
Soon people like Ray Kurzweil had  built a machine where the computer played the piano and not him actually playing. At the age of 17 he built it and demonstrated it. Soon 46 years later, he believes that computers will pass human intelligence and humans will be wiped out.

The Theory

The theory of the technological singularity is that there is a point in the future where robots will built smart enough where their intelligence will surpass humans so much they will not need us anymore. There is no way to stop this because based on the theory it will happen. No matter what. Even at this point  there is no way to reverse this because robots will find every way to stop us and be ahead of us always. Based on scientists, this will happen in the next 35 years. That will be when the humans existing will no longer be on the face of the Earth. Although the death of humans is eminent death, there will be breakthroughs in the technological field. Things like robotic enhancements to humans and AI will occur.

Human Biological Enhancements

When we think of half human and half robot, we think of cyborgs and robotic enhancements to the body where the robotics will help humans in many ways. They could help the disabled such as people who cannot walk or stand up. There are things that can help the blind see again. Make people hear again. Robotics can create a better world for individuals to live the lives they want or don't have. But to do this, scientists have to create something to help these disabled people. They cannot just place a computer into these people and expect things to happen. They have to develop things that will work with the human system. The robot would connect to the humans nervous system and all the blood vessels and anything to function. This may take a while to create but things like prosthetic arms and legs have been in use for a long time. But soon to come are more things trying to be developed.

1.  Superhuman Vision- This dream power of everyone can be achieved through the scientific field. A kind of permanent contact lens better than 20/20 can be applied by surgery to create almost superhuman vision. Although you can't see through walls, this is a huge step into the future. Designed by Ocumetics Technology Corp. Dr. Gareth Webb created this contact lens to help the world. Its better than glasses and contacts and could almost cure your vision forever.
2. Bionic Hands- If someone lost a hand due to an accident or a disability, bionic hands can give them joy again. Over the summer, a 29 year old women named Nicky Ashwell was born without a right hand. For 29 years of her life, she had only 1 hand. But she soon discovered the BeBonic, designed by a UK group called Steeper-Group. This hand had over 337 mechanical parts and moved with ease. Finally, Nicky was able to ride a bicycle for the first time in 29 years.
3.  Chip Implants- When wanting to turn off the light, heaters, or doors remotely Kevin Warwick
   installed a chip in his arm where he can do all these things remotely. Warwick has founded the Project Cyborg where he wants to be the most complete cyborg and has been testing various things to him since 1998.
   

   

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

    

     

   Being disabled and having a robotic arm can be a bad thing. But on the other hand people have tried to make it a good thing. Some people perform in the Cybathlon. This competition is for the cyborgs and half robot people who have prosthetic and robotic help. Races in this challenge include things like prosthetic leg races, exoskeleton races, arm prosthetic races, brain controlled computer game, powered wheelchair races, and muscle stimulated bike races. This competition is something that is a step into the future and with the people who lost the chance to be athletes and competitors.
   

    

   Artificial Intelligence

   Artificial Intelligence, or also known as AI, is a term used to talk about the time where robots will have their mind of their own without the needs of humans operating it. When this happens, robots can actually end the lives of humans and end our human race.
   On the first Sunday of 2015, Elon musk, a engineer, inventor and investor of many big companies, gave a speech addressing the topic of AI. Along with musk, there was physicist Steven Hawking who also agreed with Musk. Although, these two well known scientists of the world are not the first to address something along these lines. But the reason this topic is big now is because for the last 5 years, Facebook, Microsoft, Google all have spent millions to billions of dollars hiring people to create these AIs and algorithms. At this rate, these big companies may cause the extinction of humans in our near future. But at this point there isn't anything to worry about just because there isn't robots who can walk and think on their own and have opinions based on humans.
   But with great power comes great responsibility. With Musk at a Puerto Rico conference, there was a letter addressing these bug companies to use AI with care and responsibility. It must be used for good and not violence. This letter will be the most important thing before people like ISIS or hackers get their hands on it to create weapons of mass destruction and can try to harness it for bad. Yes this does sound like something straight out of a science fiction movie, but the thing is, we are approaching the point where what believed science fiction ideas are coming to reality.
   
   On one hand, AIs are being developed where some of the best AI computers are as good as 4 year old children.The University of Illinois Chicago gave the ConceptNet 4 Artificial Intelligence system (created by student at MIT) the Weschler Preschool and primary scale Intelligence test and it recorded that it is as smart as the average 4 year old. At this rate, computers will be smarter and smarter. The test showed that the computer did good on the straight fact answered questions but struggled on the why questions. But this is common and will take a while for these computers to really develop. But artificial Intelligence has a far way to go before they can hurt anyone. One thing is that it will take a long long time before these robots will even have common sense which occurs in most 8 year old children.
   
   
   
   

   The aftermath of the Singularity

   

   In any science fiction movie, we would know that we end by robots taking over the world. But with precaution, we can prevent a WWIII. As stated earlier, Elon Musk and many other companies trying to create AI, this must be done in a nonviolent, non-threatening way. We must build to help not destroy. As we all know, humans and their destructive nature will find a way. But when there's a robot uprising the world we know will be gone.
   All we know is there is 2 possibilities.
   
   1.When we find AI and harness it with its power, we can build a better world. With AI we can create a Utopia and with robots tending to our needs while humans can relax. Robots can then develop everything we want or need. They will have the nature of creativity and intelligence. With these robots, jobs will no longer be needed. Everything from farming, to manufacturing is done by robots. Humans don't need to work anymore.
   

   
   
   2.When we find AI and harness it with its power, we can build a better world. But when putting these robots to work, with their own mind and conscious, they will realize there is no need for humans. All they do is lay down while robots do everything creating the world for them. Soon they will not need humans and can kill them. Making the humans extinct creating a WWIII where robots will win. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

   http://www.engadget.com/2015/08/19/7-real-life-cyborg-implants/#gallery=313706&slide=3588646

   http://www.mnn.com/leaderboard/stories/7-real-life-human-cyborgs

   http://www.wired.com/2015/01/ai-arrived-really-worries-worlds-brightest-minds/

   http://gizmodo.com/one-of-the-worlds-best-a-i-computers-is-as-smart-as-a-791902984

   http://spectrum.ieee.org/biomedical/ethics/waiting-for-the-rapture http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/video-friday-cybathlon-dronecatcher-bistrobot
   

Robotics

Robotics

By definition a robot is a machine to accomplish a task. Robots are everywhere from building cars, to sweeping the floor to even helping repair the International Space Station. These robots are helping humans in other ways such as manufacturing. Before robots, humans did everything by hand and by manual labor. But these robots do not have limits. They do not feel tired, lazy or wanting to quit. They make production faster and more efficient. Furthermore, robots are taking the place of humans is hostile environments and becoming more reliable in most situations than humans do. Although we as humans have not created real artificial intelligence, we have developed basic movements and ideas to start our robotic revolution.

The History of Robotics

The history of robotics dates back to the ancient Greeks and their mythology. The God Hephaestus, (God of fire and metal works) has told the tale of creating mechanical servants in which moved on their own power. They were ranged between tables to golden handmaidens.

Heron Of Alexandria

• Next,  a engineer named Heron or hero of Alexandria created two texts called pneumatic and automate, these texts went over the ideas of hydraulics pressure, air and steam, and ideas such as opening and closing doors and statues that pour wine. Along with those readings, more texts include Belopoeica and Mechanica. These books go over war machines and how to move heavy objects. The idea of these machines and conceptions are way ahead of their time. War machines and automatic doors did not come out till a very long time. 
• Then after Heron came Leonardo da Vinci who came up with the idea of a mechanical knight which can move. He created drawings and sketches of this idea but no one has found evidence of him attempting to make it.
• Then in 1737, a french engineer named Jacques de Vuacanson created the first ever humanoid robot that can play the tabor and pipe. To add, he also created a fully mechanical duck in which can eat, flap it wings and even defecate.
• Soon enough in 1937 and 1938,  the company, Westinghouse, had created 8 humanoid robots called Elektro which can walk, smoke cigarettes and move its arms and head.
• These robots are the start of a mass production and revolution of robots to help the world and humans.

Types of Robots

Industrial Robots

Manufacturing assemblies were always run by humans. Manual labor can create humans to become tired and bored. Robots don't have these emotions like we do and because of this, robots are taking over the world in manufactured goods and in the work area. With these robots, they are more dependable for a long time without pay. Although they cost a lot to purchase these robots and program them, they are much more efficient than manual workers who may not get the job done, take payments to the week or month, are very slow and may not create the best, most exact work that robots do.  Robots also can make products better. Things like car manufacturing. Before, cars were put together by hand in the assembly lines. But now robots can put cars together faster and more efficient than ever before. For these reasons, robots are in the need much more than ever before.

Humanoid Robots

Now that in the 21st century, humans have tried to create a humanoid robots to resemble humans and to do human acts. But to do that, robots need to be programmed very well. But to do that is extremely difficult. The reasoning to build these humanoid robots is to replace human tasks. The future will be based off of robots doing the hard work. For example, people are trying to build robots that will act as first respondents to tasks such as firefighters. This replacement of work can save many lives in the act of life or death situations and events. So this group in MIT built HERMES. This robot can go into a building on fire and a person telling the robot what to do feels and sees everything HERMES does. This robot can save the lives of humans, chop/break wood, and grip things like humans do.

Valkyrie has many human aspects, classifying it a humanoid robot

Along with HERMES, there is Valkyrie. This robot is a humanoid robot that was designed to be in space. NASA has funded this program to compete in the DARPA Robotics challenge. The challenge to prove the robot could do simple tasks in space, but on Earth. The tasks are to be:

• Exit a habitat airlock hatch and use a ladder to reach the terrestrial land
• Remove a communications/power cable from a soft-goods storage location and attach it to a connector located at least 10 meters away, while traversing a irregular rocky terrain, like the surface of Mars.
• Repair or replace damaged components on complex equipment, such as a broken valve or damaged tire on a planetary rover
• Collect or recover desired samples or items, such as Mars soil and/or rocks

 Non- Humanoid Robots

But with humanoid robots, there are also things such as drones. Right now there are robots in which deliver your amazon packages. They could be in flight or on the ground. The more present drone by amazon is the amazon prime air. This drone can take your package and send it to your door by robot and in flight. These robots can get deliveries sent faster and more conveniently to you. At first, humans delivered this packages to your door. They may take weeks to ship to your house.  But with these, they send them ASAP right to your door faster than before. But next on the ground, amazon has ideas for new transportation of packages with the trans-wheel robots. These robots balance on one wheel and bring your package straight to you. What makes this type of robot better is that they also travel faster and more convenient then the every day mail man. To add, these robots can travel alone or with more to carry heavier loads. But due to Federal Aviation Administration, they may not allow these types of not man driven robots to roam the streets. But if it passes these robots could change the way delivery works.

Military Robots

Because robots are made to make human lives easier, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) has created exoskeletons for soldiers to help carry their load. These machines help reduce muscle tears from the usual weight of the packs they carry. Although, so far it doesn't lighten the load, it mostly helps medically then performance. Before, many soldiers suffer from muscular scoliosis and fatigue. Now these robots can start a new path to more upgraded soldiers weaponry, defense, or transportation. This exoskeleton is one step into the future of military robotics.

Programming

Robots to preform task/ carry out task, they must be programmed to do so. We are not so far into the future where the robots know what to do if we told them. We need to specifically tell them what to do and how to do it based off a computer. Programming is basically the written out code to complete certain tasks without the need of humans. When programming a robot, humans specifically say and write the motions of these robots exactly the way shown to complete the task.
The problem about robots is the robot is always guessing about the real world. The robot does not have eyes and a brain to tell what an object is or where something is. It guesses what the world is like based on measurements from sensors. Upon building a robot, you must create a model which will give the robot the simulation of life. As the world goes as the model goes, the robot will function and make decisions correctly. But as the robots in their field are so perfect in the lab, it may not function correctly in the field. This is due to their model being so specific and narrow only working in certain conditions. Once put outside of the lab, the model will not work and their decision making will not be right. This is the reason robotics is so difficult. So in the future, robots need to be able to be flexible and make decisions on the spot without interaction with humans. Once that happens, robots will be revolutionary and unstoppable.

There are different types of robot programming such as:
 joint  co-ordinates- This tells the robot basic movements of arms or any joint
Global co-ordinates-  This tells the robot basic movements in the planes x,y, and z. Also rotations can be preformed
Tool co-ordinates- This, similar to the global, this moves on one tool center point

Like humans, robots need a goal in their "life". They must have a reason for life. They are just like humans in the work area. Robots need to be able to make decisions without being programmed like at work something happens, they need to be able to do something about it not being mindlessly breaking things and objects.
The goal for programming robotics is to get the point where robots can learn from their own mistakes/experiences. But to do this is very difficult. They would have many many lines of code and artificial intelligence to do this. But predicted by many scientist, robots will be smart enough to do that by 2045. In conclusion, robots through history to now has progressed from simple tasked robots to human robots and soon enough robots with their own mind around the world that can revolutionize the world or become the end of humans.

 Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoC2ZGRI8a8

http://history-computer.com/Dreamers/Heron.html

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/video-friday-mit-hermes-drone-claw-bb8-droid

http://www.roboticstrends.com/article/transwheel_robots_an_alternative_to_amazon_delivery_drones

http://www.amazon.com/b?node=8037720011

http://spectrum.ieee.org/video/robotics/military-robots/darpa-tests-batterypowered-exoskeletons-on-real-soldiers   

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/robotics.aspx

http://www.bara.org.uk/robots/robot-programming-methods.html

http://www.toptal.com/robotics/programming-a-robot-an-introductory-tutorial

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/robot-learning/

My Mouse Trap Car

My Mousetrap Car

Materials

     Upon making the actual mouse trap car, you have to have an approach. You need light materials and you need to know what you are making for the final piece. To start, an overview of what I needed for my car was:

• 2 pieces of wood (18")
• A mouse trap
• 4 regular CD's
• 2 smaller pieces of wood (10")
• 2 sticks or 1 cylindrical lever (=22")
• 2 big straws
• 1 piece of string
• Duct Tape
• 4 metal washers
• 2 cylindrical sticks 
• 4 zip ties

Steps to make    

The first step to making the car were the wheels. The wheels were CD's. They were secured by wrapping tape around the straws until the CD would fit and stay on firmly. You did not want the CD's to move around so you would have to cut pieces of tape and put them around the edges and so the wheel would not be able to go over the tape.

Next, upon both wheels being secured, you would need to put a 12" or 1' wooden axle through the  straw where the straw can be connected to the rest of the body. Tips when doing this step is, when making the back wheels, you do not need to create a pulley or any type of pulling system for the car to move because the string can just attach to the straw and not anything else.

After many trials, the pulley was taken out of the final product.

Furthermore, the structure was to be made. The body was made of 2 18" rectangular sticks. These
created a long and thin body shape that gave it a good look and worked well. At the end of each stick,
there were holes drilled in so the axles could go in it and stay there. The axles were not meant to spin
but the straws and CD's were meant to spin on the wooden axle.

To add, the area to place the power source, the mouse trap, is built on 2 pieces of 10" wooden sticks.
These act as a platform for the mouse trap to sit on. They are then put into place by screws to hold it
down. The mousetrap is attached to the platforms by screws and the platform is attached to the rest
of the body.

Also, when making the car, the power source must be effective and useful.When creating it, the lever

is made up of 2 wooden sticks (each being 12" or 1') equaling 22". The lever is not that heavy but is 

still very strong. These are then zip tied to the mouse trap arm to create a strong effective lever. At the

end of the lever, there is a piece of tape wrapped around the piece of string to hold it. The other end of the string is not attached to the wheel but simply wrapped around the straw. The rest of the string is just wrapped around the straw and ready to be released.

The last part to the car is the extra add on's to make the car go even better. First off, tape or a rubber

band can be added to the back wheels to give the spin a little more push and release. It will give

better traction and can actually help a lot. Next, metal washers can be added to make sure the wheel

(CD's and straw) are not touching the sides slowing it down. The washers hold the wheels in a certain

area not letting anything else slow it down. Third, glue the parts that need to be put together. Gluing

the wooden axle to the sides can keep the structure from moving and shifting sides. Finally, take off

any unnecessary pieces. Before getting to the final piece, most materials did not fit perfectly and not

have any extra space. They usually had some little pieces sticking out. So towards the end when you

happy with what you have you can trim off some remaining pieces to give it that thin look aerodynamic

look and feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tips

When staring up the car, you do not want any overlapping string or else the car will jam and not run as smoothly. To get rid of any overlaps, you want to elevate the back wheel and spin the wheel as you pull the string tight until you need to start moving the lever down. You want to keep the string tight and not loose when you are trying to start it. When it is loose, the string will overlap without a doubt. Another tip when making the car always make sure all your measurements are correct and add up so

there are not any non-straight lines for the structure. The body must have all 90° angles.

 After following these steps the car will run smoothly:

The mouse trap car

The Mousetrap Race Car

  The mousetrap car is a vehicle as in which the power source is a mousetrap and its spring shutting system. The car can and only have one mousetrap and can measure its proficiency by its distance or speed. The vehicle is mostly built upon trial and error with many prototypes to build and add upon each one to make the best it can be.

 

The Mousetraps history

The first mousetrap was invented by a British inventor named James Henry Atkinson. In 1897, the first prototype was named the "Little Nipper".  The trap could shut at 38,000s of a second. It was made of the basic wooden platform, the actual spring and wire fasteners. Although the most generic look to a mousetrap is wood and has a metal piece to shut, there were many different types of traps that actually worked better and was much more efficient than the original. There are big box like traps and plastic, more technological and stronger traps that replaced the original and became more efficient and effective.

 

The Different Types of Cars

Each prototype that was made was either to make the car fast, or to make it go far. There is no car that has both speed and distance because factors will use one method to accelerate at a quick rate or accelerate slowly but go far along the ground. Each one can use different materials, different system, or different body structure. 

 

For Distance

To maximize distance, the car must have things in mind:

• Weight/materials
• Body structure/size
• Wheels 
• Use glue

These few factors can change the distance from 10m to 50m. Each little ounce can change greatly as well. To start, the weight of the car will mostly slow the car down and keep it going as far as it can and so materials must be light to do this. The body structure is important because you want the car to be aerodynamic and to reduce drag. To do this the size must be narrow and thin. It will let it cut through the air like a arrow. Furthermore, the wheels are important because you want back wheels to be large. The reasoning to this is that larger wheels accelerate slowly (not for speed) but will spin better and spin for a longer time compared to smaller wheels. Finally, glue is a contributing factor because it is lighter than tape and nails and can hold things together strongly. All these factors are to make the car go for a long distance and may or may not effect the speed of the car. For different types, some cars may go very slowly but go far, or start off fast and then slow down. Each car is different.

 

Speed

To maximize speed, many factors are the same for distance but instead wanting a better ratio of time over distance compared to just the distance. These factors are:

• Weight/materials
• Use Glue 
• Back wheels to rear axle ratio
• Short lever arms

The cars factors are to make a faster car, so these factors each have a reason why. To make a car, a light weight is universal. The materials should be light and the it should not be massive (not a lot of mass). Next, glue is very light pertaining to the light materials and sticks together very well. To add, the back wheel to rear axle ratio is that the back wheels should be as small as possible and the axle should be large. This is because larger wheels do not accelerate that well but go for distance instead. So smaller wheels are the best fit. But these wheels should be thin and friction-less. Lastly, the lever arms should be shortened because the if the power from the mouse trap is released all at once, the speed will increase greatly. 

Things to watch for to make sure your car does the best it can

 

Normally, a car would need to be as light as it can be to move quickly. It should be small but durable and glue will be necessary. Furthermore, things like inertia and friction are key ideas to watch for. Inertia is the resistance to change in motion. It includes speed and direction. So in this case, it is the resistance to change in speed. From no motion to motion, things like weight can slow the change of motion, causing a

slower car. Even more, friction is a big thing to watch. Friction can cause the car to slow down drastically and even to stop the car. The wheels are the biggest target for friction. Judging by the wheels the car can be fast or slow. Things like CD's make great wheels because they are thin causing less friction but light making them very effective. But wheels like bottle caps or wood wheels may not be as effective do to their weight and their thickness. Their weight can drag the speed down or even cause drag slowing the car down by air resistance and it being thick creating lots of friction slowing the vehicle down and not going as far as it should be.

 

Final Tips

 Upon making the car, things to look for are the forces around you to slow down the car. These can be taking your speed down by a lot. So make sure you are trying to cause no friction and making the body light and easy to move. Also make sure there are nothing holding the car down and lose all unnecessary weight. Keep the vehicles size based on either distance or speed. Distance is to be long and thin with large back wheels and small front wheels. And speed as small equally small wheels. To conclude, if you follow these tips and use trial and error, you car should be the best it can be.