Robots have learned to multitask

Sascha: [00:00:02] From Equity Mates media. This is The Dive. I'm your host, Sascha Kelly. 2023 is shaping up to be a big year of big technological change in the world of artificial intelligence. There's been one name that's been on everyone's lips lately. Generative artificial intelligence has definitely captured the world's imagination. Language models like ChatGPT and I like it. But when we look back at 2023, artificial intelligence may not be the biggest step forward because quietly in the background, robotics are taking huge leaps forward, sometimes literally, as these robots jump and backflip into our lives. And when we see what combining artificial intelligence and robotics creates, we get a glimpse of our future. It's Friday, the 10th of February. And today I want to know just how advanced is robotics technology and where will I see it in my life? To do this, I'm joined by the co-founder of Equity Mates and his first appearance back on The Dive for 2023. It's Alec Renehan. Alec, welcome.

Alec: [00:01:05] Hi, Sascha. Great to be back for 2023. You got me very excited when you said we'll get a glimpse of our future. This is an episode we've had on the board for a while and it's the right time to hit it today because there are some pretty amazing things happening in this space. 

Sascha: [00:01:20] Everywhere I look, there seem to be headlines about AI and robotics, and I was just telling you I love robots. I think it's so cool. So I'm so excited. 

Alec: [00:01:29] And I think most people have seen Boston Dynamics videos. That's how most people are familiar with the coming robot Revolution. And that was definitely what sparked the idea for us. But there's so much more happening that we're excited to get into. 

Sascha: [00:01:44] Yeah, so let's start. Can you put this conversation in context for me? We know that robots have actually been around for years. Actually even decades. Yeah. 

Alec: [00:01:52] Even centuries. The first mass production was automated in 1804, when French inventor Joseph Marie Jihad unveiled the hardware. The term robot was first used in the 1921 play Rossum's Universal Robots, with the term robot deriving from the Czech word robot to referring to the forced labour of serfs. There's a bit of etymology for you. 

Sascha: [00:02:16] That's my fun fact for this Friday. 

Alec: [00:02:18] Great. More fun facts for you, Sascha. In 1959, the first robotic arm is installed on a factory floor in a General Motors plant. 

Audio Clip: [00:02:27] Automation's newest contribution to man. This jack of all trades robot is called uni mate and it handles dull, difficult or dangerous jobs with equal aplomb. 

Alec: [00:02:37] And a key milestone I know you'll be excited for because we heard all about it in the Equity Mates office in 2002. The Roomba invades living rooms around the world and 20 years later, in 2022, it invades your living room. 

Sascha: [00:02:52] So for cleaner floors throughout your entire home at the push of a button, meet the. 

Audio Clip: [00:02:57] IRobot, Roomba. 1980 Vacuum Cleaning Robot. 

[00:03:00] It certainly did. And look, this isn't an episode that's supposed to be advertising robot vacuums, but I am the number one fan. Roomba. You can sponsor us any time. But basically what you've just said there is that there's a long history of robots helping us in manufacturing and distribution centres around the world. But crucially, most of these robots were specific purpose robots. A General Motors robot designed to automate a specific task on the factory floor or the Roomba, which, you know, can't really do much else except clean my house. As much as I'd love it to do all these other tasks. So the key trend that we've really seen accelerate over the past decade is general purpose robots. 

Alec: [00:03:40] Yeah, that's right. That's the key distinction for this episode. Special purpose robots are designed to complete one specific task or function in just one environment, you know, planting crops on a farm, performing surgery in a hospital, or picking up and placing boxes in a warehouse. Amazing robotics, especially the performing surgery. But just doing one thing, general purpose robots can do a variety of different things and their programming and the mechanics are flexible enough to allow them to do whatever they're asked. 

Sascha: [00:04:10] And these robots are often designed to look like humans, or kind of unexpectedly, in the case of Boston Dynamics, they look like dogs. 

Audio Clip: [00:04:18] Welcome back to Boston Dynamics headquarters. Today, we're excited to announce the latest developments with Spot.

Alec: [00:04:24] Yeah. Now, here's something we learned when we were researching this episode. I guess a bit of industry knowledge from the robotics industry. Humanoid robots are pretty usually about whatever task you want a human shaped robot to do. You could design a special purpose robot to do that same task, more efficient. You know, why would you give a robot unstable and slow legs when you could give it wheels instead? But we've seen companies really accelerate the progress of general purpose robots over the past decade, and we're really starting to see some emerging use cases on the back of Elon Musk. You've always got to mention Elon Musk has said Tesla is developing a humanoid robot called Optimus, which could be used for cooking meals and helping elderly people at home. Eventually they want it to be able to do anything humans don't want to do. 

Sascha: [00:05:14] He was clearly a Transformers fan. Yes. 

Audio Clip: [00:05:18] The world to Call Home. 

Alec: [00:05:20] Google last year unveiled a general purpose robot that performs ambiguous tasks requiring reasoning such as I spilled my drink. Can you help? 

Sascha: [00:05:29] I always need help. I'm always spilling things. 

Alec: [00:05:33] But most of the general purpose applications were saying aren't in the home. They're in industrial use cases. For example, BP and Woodside use robotic dogs to improve safety in their minds. Semiconductor maker Globalfoundries uses a general purpose robot to automate data collection and monitor the condition of its equipment. Honolulu police last year used Boston Dynamics dog Spot to take temperatures of people at homeless camps in Pompeii in Italy. A robotic dog is used to carry out safety patrols and a funny one for you, Sascha, to close it out. Oregon State University developed a general purpose robot that broke the Guinness World Record for the fastest 100 metre sprint player bipedal robot on record 24.7 3 seconds. So the robots can't outrun us yet. 

Sascha: [00:06:28] Usain Bolt. I mean. 

Alec: [00:06:31] You could run faster than 24 seconds. 

Sascha: [00:06:33] Yeah, Yeah, that's true. Actually, now that I think about it. Look, those examples, they do actually get me really excited to have a general purpose robot of my own. All of those things, except maybe the running sound really useful and practical. But the key unlock for this whole industry is combining these advances in robotics with the advances that we're seeing in artificial intelligence. 

Alec: [00:06:55] Yeah, if the shift from special purpose robots to general purpose robots have given computers a body and the flexibility to do whatever they're asked to do, then advances in artificial intelligence have given these computers a brain, and when combined, it'll change the world. We're only just starting to see what will emerge. Just this week, the Babbage podcast by The Economist visited the Factory of Engineered Arts in the UK and interviewed Amika, a robot that he is using Google's voice recognition processes information using OpenAI's GPT three and speaks using Amazon's poly and the result is pretty incredible. 

Audio Clip: [00:07:37] I'm sorry to hear that you're feeling down, but if you need someone to talk to then I'm here. It's tough when the going gets rough, but together we'll get through it no matter what. 

Sascha: [00:07:48] It absolutely is. I'm going to put a link to the YouTube of seeing Amica in the show notes because it's incredible to see. 

Alec: [00:07:55] An amicus have already been sold to customers there in the wild. One example they discuss on the podcast is the Copernicus Science Centre in Poland that ordered a robotic version of Nicolas Copernicus, the astronomer that discovered the Earth revolved around the sun rather than the other way around. So visitors to the museum can speak to a robotic AI powered Nicolas Copernicus and ask him about his life and his discoveries. 

Sascha: [00:08:20] That's amazing. Look, might be a bit expensive for me, but I definitely know what's going on my Christmas list. I want an advocate for these novel use cases like museums. That's just the start of this. You can see how the combination of AI robotics is going to lead to a revolution in many caring professions because all of a sudden robots will be able to assist professional caregivers and also give elderly and disabled people far more freedom in life because you could delay moving into a care home if a robot can help you up and down stairs, help you clean up and remember when you need help taking your pills. But for all of these exciting use cases, of course, as the other side of the coin and the risks that come with such powerful technology. So let's take a break and then talk about them. Welcome back to the Dive. Today we're talking about the huge leap forward we've been saying in robotics. It's no longer the realm of science fiction. Walking, talking, thinking humanoid robots are becoming a reality in 2023 and I am excited. But before we continue with the episode, we do just want to ask a really quick favour. We have our Equity Mates Community survey live at the moment. The link is right there in the show notes. It takes 10 minutes to fill out and it really helps us make decisions, especially about the direction that we're going to take this show this year. You could complete it while listening to the second half of this episode, and if you do finish it, you could be in the running to win $500 or tickets to invest. So, Alec, we've been talking about the huge leap forward in robotics and the emergence of general purpose robots, but that comes with risks, so much so that six of the leading robotics companies have signed an open letter calling on the industry to not weaponize general purpose robots. This sounds terrifying. 

Alec: [00:10:19] Yeah, it's pretty scary. The six companies, Boston Dynamics, Agility, Robotics, anybody Clearpath Robotics, Open Robotics and Uni Tree published a letter late last year calling on the world not to weaponize robots. 

Sascha: [00:10:32] It seems like a fairly standard campaign that we should all get behind. 

Alec: [00:10:37] It does, doesn't it? It comes on the back of a bigger campaign that I'm sure we can also get behind. Stop killer robots. Hey, Samantha, what's the weather like today? 

Audio Clip: [00:10:45] I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. 

Sascha: [00:10:48] It's so catchy. 

Alec: [00:10:50] Yeah, it is what it says. It's been going on since 2012, and it seeks to pre-emptively ban lethal autonomous weapons or laws. The campaign organisers say nearly 100 countries and a huge range of companies and NGOs oppose lethal autonomous weapons. 

Sascha: [00:11:06] Machines don't see us as people. Just another piece of code. Yeah. So who doesn't support this movement? 

Alec: [00:11:13] Yeah, well, perhaps unsurprisingly, military and law enforcement see a lot of opportunities to weaponize robots. Yeah. And so at a meeting of the United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons last year, there was a failure to reach a consensus governing the use of so-called killer robots, due in part to objections from countries working on technologies like this, including the US, the UK and Russia. Now, Sascha. In their defence, military planners and law enforcement officials are focussed on protecting their own soldiers or their own police officers. That's a key part of their job. And if they can send a robot with a gun into a dangerous situation rather than a person with a gun, they protect the lives of their people. That is a net benefit. But it does open a pretty scary can of worms. And for me, the scariest part of it is how it changes the risk calculations for these officials. Would politicians and leaders be more willing to start a conflict if they knew they were sending in a fleet of weaponized robots rather than actual soldiers? Does lessening the cost increase the risk? 

Sascha: [00:12:21] I mean, you've posed some massive questions that ones that we are not in a position to answer, but it's certainly an ethical conundrum. Let's talk about examples. Are there specific situations where police and militaries are using weaponized robots today? 

Alec: [00:12:36] So there are plenty of examples of weaponized robots being controlled remotely by human operators, according to Boston Dynamics website. Some police and fire departments are already using the company's robot dog spot to assess risky situations. Bomb threats have been neutralised by a robot going into the scene and defusing the bomb if needed. But they're not necessarily weaponized. But we have seen police departments adding weapons. 

Audio Clip: [00:13:01] Meat Deji Dog, the newest member of the NYPD Technical Assistance Response Unit. Yes, a robot dog that's hounding city streets, assisting its handlers in saving lives and protecting New York's finest. 

Alec: [00:13:12] In 2016, police in Dallas used a robot armed with a safe for explosives to kill a man who had shot several police officers. The robot wasn't built with weapons. The police strapped the C4 to it before they sent it in. And in San Francisco last year, city officials moved to authorise police use of lethal force with robots. AI police could kill someone with a robot they were controlling. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that authorisation was later overturned. That isn't the scariest prospect because there's still a human in control of the robot. And if something goes wrong, the human made the decision and is still at fault. What's really scary is autonomous weapons systems or lethal autonomous weapons, which is a robot with a weapon, but rather than a human operating them and a human making the decision that operated by artificial intelligence and make decisions themselves based on programming. There's been one example of this so far. In 2020, a robot drone hunted down and attacked a human target in Libya. According to the U.N., this was likely the first time an autonomous killer robot armed with a lethal weapon attacked human beings. And that's the really scary prospect. And that's really where the Stop Killer Robots campaign is focussed. It's one thing to have a robot attached with a weapon, but if a human's controlling it, a human is still responsible. When AI is responsible, how do you regulate that? How do you control that? And how do you ultimately hold someone responsible when something goes wrong? That's the really scary prospect. 

Sascha: [00:14:51] Yeah, that's real dystopian science fiction vibes, and that's why these six leading robotics companies have written this open letter. 

Alec: [00:14:59] Yeah, that's right. They want more caring robots and less killer robots. 

Sascha: [00:15:02] Again, a great slogan. 

Alec: [00:15:03] Yeah, but the challenge is there are always more engineers and more companies out there, especially when the military is waving around their big chequebook. So, you know, if these six companies don't want to make weaponized robots, there are other companies that will step in. One example we saw recently when we were researching this episode was the US company Ghost Robotics. 

Audio Clip: [00:15:23] My name is Jared Perich. I'm the president and CEO of Ghost Robotics. We believe we have an incredible purpose here in Ghost. 

Alec: [00:15:30] They've built a quadrupedal robot, essentially a robot dog like the Boston Dynamics Robot Dog, but then a small arms specialist, Sword International, equipped with a special purpose unmanned rifle with 30 times optical zoom thermal camera. It can target in the dark effective range of 1200 metres. Basically, it's a robot dog with a massive gun on it. So that's the risk here that for all the companies that won't do it unless there's international law that bans these kind of weapons, like we've banned plenty of weapons in the past, there will always be other companies that will do it. 

Sascha: [00:16:08] Hopefully, as this technology emerges more into the mainstream, we see more concerted efforts to limit these killing machines because this is terrifying. I think I'm going to go and put my signature on the Stop Killer Robots campaign. As someone who really loves robots and wants them to be a part of my life. So let's move towards the positive and close out the episode by reminding ourselves of how exciting our future could be. Paint me a picture of what's going to happen with my AI powered general purpose robot. What are we going to do with a robot? 

Alec: [00:16:39] Well, Astro. Follow me. So we're moving from a world of single purpose robots to a world of multi-taskers. Amazon's Astro is an Alexa on wheels that can also vacuum your floor, help you move small objects and watch out for intruders. Samsung's bot handy has an arm and eyes, allowing it to pull you a glass of wine, help you with the cooking and then load the dishwasher once you're done. Buddy Developed by French company Blue Frog Robotics can do many of the same things as Amazon's Astro, but it's also designed to be an emotional companion. And the French Ministry of National Education has recently signed a deal to buy 1750 of them to help homebound or hospitalised children. And from this world of multitaskers that we're living in now will then move into the world of true general purpose robots that can do all of that and even more. And ultimately fulfilling Tesla's goal of doing everything that humans don't want to do.

Sascha: [00:17:41] Look, I'm opening a new savings account. I'm going to call it robot funds. They're going to start putting money in every week. Listen, to get started investing and like, figure out what my budget plan is because I'm on board for this future. Well, we might leave it there for today. Alec, one more piece of housekeeping before we go. FinFest is back for 2023. Make sure you register your interest and keep up to date and be the first to access Early Bird ticket prices. It was such an epic day last year. You definitely want to make sure that you're there. If you want to keep the conversation going, then come and follow us on Instagram. We're @thedivebusinessnews. You can always contact us by email thedive@equitymatesccom and please hit, follow or subscribe wherever you're listening right now. And then you just never miss a feature episode again. Alec, thanks so much for talking about robots with me today. 

Alec: [00:18:31] Thanks, Sascha. It was a lot of fun. 

Sascha: [00:18:32] Yeah.