Experts warn robots are growing in consciousness and should be classified as an “invasive species”

Should humanity become extinct in the immediate future, it won’t be by our own hands or through the wrath of nature. A number of experts has claimed that our demise shall be brought on by super-strong robots. What was once created to make our lives easier could very well “threaten our existence” in the span of a few years.

This grim warning comes from the experts featured in the two-episode documentary series “Hyper Evolution: Rise of the Robots”. Presented by teaching fellow at Anglia Ruskin University and evolutionary biologist Dr. Ben Garrod and University of Manchester electronics engineer Danielle George, the documentary aims to the answer the question whether or not automation could one day become our greatest enemy. Though according to Garrod himself, that could very well be the case.

“What concerns me is that the impact of robots will be so monumental, they could threaten humanity,” Garrod told DailyMail.co.uk. “We’ve evolved over hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years. These things are just bulldozing their way through. At what point have we got to stop? They’re like an invasive species.”

Garrod added that their classification as an “invasive species” was further bolstered by their increasing ability to make conscious decisions. “In the next few years, physically at least, they will be able to out-compete us in many of the things that we can do. But for me, the real problem isn’t if they move like us or even look like us. The real issue will come if they start to think like us,” he stated.

Many of the robots featured on the program hint towards this.

One such robot is Erica, who has been described as “the most beautiful and most human-like autonomous humanoid android in this world” by her “father”, Hiroshi Ishiguro. The robotics expert has gone on record to state that he aims to create a robot that can think and act independently. Erica is a move towards that direction. Though Erica is unable to move her arms and legs, she can answer questions about her ideal partner, tell jokes, and even sidestep around queries about her age. Ishiguro and Dylan F. Glas, Erica’s co-creator, hope to someday release Erica into out into the world and human society.

It’s no wonder then that Garrod isn’t alone in his opinions.

“The whole of our society, our law, our education, is based around consciousness, making conscious decisions, and if we show that actually that’s quite trivial and we reproduce it in an afternoon in a lab, then it could make you think ‘Well, how important is human life? Because it is conscious’,” said professor of cognitive robotics Owen Holland. “Ultimately the rewards will be positive but you have to be very, very careful. Socially it might be disruptive.”

Others have put out suggested measures to prevent the robotic takeover from becoming a reality. Just recently, experts hailing from the University of Oxford proposed equipping robots with recorders not unlike the black boxes on aircraft. These recorders would then capture the robots’ behaviors so that, in the event of a malfunction or an accident, the recorders would provide analysts with the information they need to determine what went wrong.

Although such a feature may cause robot-related accidents to dip in prevalence, it won’t exactly prevent automation from inflicting harm upon humans, whether unexpectedly or on purpose, experts said.(Related: First fatality of the robot apocalypse? Robot grabs factory worker and crushes him to death)

Visit Robotics.news to read up on more stories about robots and artificial intelligence.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

CambridgeNetwork.co.uk

DailyStar.co.uk

Scientists developing laser robot that can zap weeds without using pesticides

A team of researchers from the Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation at the University of Bonn in Germany are currently developing a robotic tool that readily identifies weeds and shoots laser to eliminate them, thus reducing the need to use herbicides. The project received an EXIST Business Start-up Grant from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.

The robotic system is slated to use deep learning algorithms to carry out the weeding task. The researchers also look into the possibility that the system might require cameras mounted on an all-terrain robot vehicle to do the weeding. The system might also serve as an add-on equipment to tractors for the same reason. According to researcher Dr. Julio Pastrana, the robotic system will shoot the leaves of unwanted weeds with short laser pulses, which in turn will weaken their vitality. Using the robotic system may potentially reduce the need for herbicides on fields, thus protecting the environment, said researcher Tim Wigbels.

The researchers are currently working on the specifics of their robotic system, and are also moving to establish their startup business Escarda Technologies for one year at the university through the EXIST grant. “It is now a case of finding investors and further developing the business plan for the start-up,” Wigbels noted in Science Daily. Both researchers look into participating in the start-up round tables carried out by Technology Transfer. “Our aim is to contribute to achieving more sustainable agriculture,” Pastrana quoted in United Press International. The laser-blasting technology may have legitimate commercial potential, said transfer advisor Rüdiger Wolf.

Potential implications in herbicide use

The development of the new robotic system may have positive implications in herbicide use around the world, which has shown significant growth over the years. In fact, a study published in 2015 revealed that the U.S. has already applied a whopping 1.6 billion kilograms of the herbicide glyphosate since 1974. This accounted for 19 percent of estimated global glyphosate use.

According to the study, two-thirds of the total glyphosate volume applied in the U.S. between 1974 and 2014 has been used during the past decade alone. This accounted for 72 percent of the global glyphosate use. The researchers also found that in 2014 alone, farmers used enough glyphosate to apply 1.0 kg/ha on every hectare of cultivated cropland across the U.S. and nearly 0.53 kg/ha on all cropland around the world. (Related: Glyphosate contamination might be apparent in food too)

In addition, the study showed that the global glyphosate use showed a 15-fold increase since 1996, around the same time when genetically engineered, glyphosate-tolerant crops were introduced.

“Genetically engineered herbicide-tolerant crops now account for about 56 percent of global glyphosate use. In the U.S., no pesticide has come remotely close to such intensive and widespread use. This is likely the case globally, but published global pesticide use data are sparse. Glyphosate will likely remain the most widely applied pesticide worldwide for years to come, and interest will grow in quantifying ecological and human health impacts. Accurate, accessible time-series data on glyphosate use will accelerate research progress,” the researchers concluded in Environmental Sciences Europe.

Follow more discoveries on technology and food production at FutureScienceNews.com.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

UPI.com

EnvEurope.SpringerOpen.com