Make robots smarter - Ayanna Howard

65,954 views ・ 2013-02-06

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar
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So how many of you have a robot at home?
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OK, I see about 20, 30 hands.
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That's actually pretty good.
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How many of you would want your own personal robot at home?
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I know I would!
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OK, so why doesn't this exist?
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Why can't I go to the convenience store or the department store and, you know,
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go up to the cashier and say, "Yeah, I want my personal robot"?
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Well, I'm going to talk to you about how to make that happen.
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The thing that we need to do is to make robots smarter.
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Now, no one will argue that we don't have robots.
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We have rovers that are going to Mars and are getting science data
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and expanding our understanding of the world.
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We have manufacturing robots
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that are helping to build our cars that we drive today.
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We even have robots that are helping our military,
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that are out disposing of bombs
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so our soldiers can come home safely.
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So we have all this, so why don't we have the personal robot?
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Why don't I have my robot chef? Because I can't cook.
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(Laughter)
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So, here's one of my robots, this is a simple walking robot,
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but it is by no means smart.
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And so, what we need to do is
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we need to change the definition of what a robot is.
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How do we do that? Well, the first step,
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before we even start designing and getting our hands dirty,
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we have to come up with rules, kind of the laws, rules of conduct.
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And why is this? Because if these robots are smart,
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they might be capable of more than we want.
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And so we have to come up with rules.
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Thou, robot, shall not harm a human.
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Thou shall obey me, and only me.
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Thou shall always protect me at all possible times.
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So we have to lay the boundaries, the rules of engagement,
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before we actually start designing.
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And then we have to come up with tools.
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So I believe that the way to make robots smarter
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is to mimic people.
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Now, our brains are complex, there's a lot going on in there,
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and so, it'd be hard to try to open up the brain
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and actually figure out how to mimic humans.
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The best way is to observe, is to actually watch people do things,
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and figure out what are they doing, what are their thoughts,
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what are their actions, what are their emotions?
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And so, part of making robots smarter is actually trying to mimic humans,
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mimic how we do things,
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so maybe they can do it a little bit better.
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And so, some of the tools are varied.
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And so, I'm classically trained as an electrical engineer.
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I never thought I'd have to understand things like child psychology,
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infant development.
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So, understanding that the way infants develop to children,
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develop to adults, and how they learn and interact
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is actually important for robotics.
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I didn't understand that I'd actually have to watch
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tapes of monkeys interacting and communicating,
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because they have a whole social kind of mechanism
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where they learn from each other,
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and so that's really good to make robots smarter.
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And, of course, neuroscience,
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I've always been fascinated with neuroscience,
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but I never understood that I had to figure out
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why do the neurons fire,
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what about the environment helps us to learn,
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and all of those really contribute to making robots a little bit smarter.
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And so, some of the things that I do -- and this is just a little snapshot --
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one of the things is mirroring.
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So they say our ability to look in a mirror and wave
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and actually recognize that the person on the other side is us,
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that self-awareness,
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is a sign of intelligence,
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and that allows us to then look at someone pitch a ball
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and figure out, "OK, I know how to pitch a ball,
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I'm going to mirror their improvement."
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And so I actually have a robot
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where we are trying to design a robot health coach.
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And so, I have an exercise physiologist
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showing the robot how to do some exercises.
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You know, we want to get strong.
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And then, the other thing is learning.
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So, learning is important. We do this as children,
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we do this even as adults, we do this as elder.
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And yet, one form of learning is muscle memory.
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So how many of you play an instrument?
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OK, so when you start off, for example, if you think about the violin,
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you start off and your instructor might actually come
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and move your hand a little bit or maybe move your bow a little bit up.
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So they actually touch you in order to give you muscle memory.
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And that helps you understand how to do things a little better.
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And so we actually have a learning methodology
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where of course, we're not going to take the motors and move the legs,
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and so we have to Nunchuk to give our robot muscle memory
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in terms of how to do dance moves.
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And then, lastly, is creativity.
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So, you might ask, "Robots? Creativity? I don't get this.
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Why does the robot have to be creative? What about creativity makes them smarter?"
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Well, creativity and imagination,
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those are the things that allow us to create problems
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when we don't know how to attack it.
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They allow us to make something out of nothing.
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I mean, if you look at the apps that at out there and the tablets,
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and the iPads, and the iPhones, and the Androids --
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20 years ago they didn't exist.
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So, how is it that we got from something where there was nothing and expanded?
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It was our imagination. It was our creativity.
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And these are the things that allow us to figure out new things.
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And so, I have a robot that is creative,
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it plays piano, is a composer,
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and if you listen, it plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
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(Music)
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So, all of this together,
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the last thing is interaction.
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So, you have a robot, you want it to be your playmate,
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your teacher, your instructor,
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you want it to interact.
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And isn't it so cute?
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(Laughter)
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So, interaction is key,
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it is key to understanding how to work in our world with us,
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and so the interaction piece is very important.
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It deals with communication, it deals with understanding,
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it deals with gaze, it deals with attention.
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All of these things together allow that interaction
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and our robots to be smart.
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And so these are just some of the tools
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that we use in order to make robots smarter.
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So, I want to leave you with one thought.
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So, I'm all for robots and smart robots.
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I mean, that's what I do,
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I'd be out of a job if I didn't believe in that.
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But yet, where does it end?
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How far do we push it?
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How far and how smart should we make our smart robots?
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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