having fun with a glimpse of the future

We have to admit the hard truth sometime and it might as well be now. Super Bowl ads over the last five years have been going downhill in quality and humor. But you can still find a finely polished gem in what’s becoming a rather mediocre ad mix. Take this year’s ad from Intel for example. Not only is it fun to watch a robot pouting, the glimpse into this future technology is probably one of the friendliest I’ve seen in recent years. If in the next few decades bots like this would be available for the mass market, they’d be a hit on looks alone. They would be like a big, friendly toy, as opposed to the usually eerie visions of household machinery of the future.

There’s another thing I like about this robot and that’s how it’s designed by the animators. Instead of the highly problematic bipedal system that requires lots of maintenance, sensors and computing overhead, it’s using a big wheel. It’s gentler on the machine and actually would make it more maneuverable. Granted, it wouldn’t be able to navigate stairs on its own, but we could assume that future house designs would probably consider if there’s a robotic helper in the house and maybe even install elevators, or escalator like stairways for them.

Its biggest hurdle though would be the required level of intelligence and comprehension of human commands. Considering that the first generation of cybernetic butlers and caretakers would probably be assigned to help senior citizens or for basic medical assistance in hospitals, they would need to understand what they’re told and be able to recognize when the human is feeling cranky, upset or is in pain so they can react appropriately, just like “Jeffrey” did in the commercial when a careless employee negated its importance.

This is where something interesting might happen. Because the robot looks so playful and a lot of work gave its digital brain the ability to read and react to human emotions, people may actually consider them intelligent and form an emotional attachment to them, just like they would to a pet. Would that make these robots a valid success in AI development? Would it matter that it’s just following code constructed by humans and can’t feel any emotions, or are its good looks and ability to work with humans enough to qualify it as intelligent?