Just what exactly should a robot look like? This question has occupied scientists, writers and many members of the general population for well over a century. For many years, robots were merely confined to the realms of scientific conjecture and, more popularly, science fiction. But eventually technology caught up to our dreams – or nightmares – and robotic mechanisms began emerging in earnest. These days, robots have developed to the point where we can ask questions like: Can we build a robot capable of the sense of human touch?
Human touch robot: The next face of development
As a New York Times article pointed out, one thing robot development hasn't really nailed down is replicating the human sense of touch. As roboticist Ken Goldberg points out in the article, humans may take touch for granted, but that's only because we've had millions of years of development to really nail it down. Through this evolution, we've grown to be able to use our touch to carry out the most intricate of tasks, from artists who work with miniature canvases to doctors who perform surgeries on bones as thin as egg shells. Our sense of touch is so refined, roboticists suggest, that we take for granted just how singularly impressive it is. With the move toward more sophisticated robotics, the question arises as to whether scientists will be able to artificially generate a sense of touch for robots.
"Touch is a much more complicated sense than one might think," the Times article stated. "Humans have an array of organs that allow them to sense pressure, sheer forces, temperature and vibrations with remarkable precision."
Robots, of course, do not have such organs. But will they still be able to (quite literally) feel things? That is the aim of haptics technology, which seeks to find ways to artificially represent the sensation of touch. One of the people working toward enabling robots to touch is Kent Massey, who directs an Ohio-based robotics firm and says that the move toward instilling artificial life with touch isn't just spurred by the desire for innovation, but by safety concerns as well. As Massey pointed out, robotic arms these days can be very effective, but they can also pose significant risks, and occasionally result in tragedy. Back in 1979, for instance, Ford assembly line Robert Williams became the first person to get killed by a robot after the robotic arm of his one-ton colleague struck him in the head. While robot technology has certainly advanced since then, there's still a considerable degree of risk – something Massey says can be allayed by giving robots touch. And Massey's company isn't the only operation out there devoted to the cause.
Boston-based Rethink Robotics and Denmark-based Universal Robots are also at work on robot arms that can better engage with humans. Both companies have constructed robots that can pick up on human touch, and this development only paves the road for more sophisticated elements of touch.
While hearing stories like these may trigger Asimov-inspired paranoia and dread, the truth is that robots are largely proving to be a productive force in our increasingly tech-reliant world. At Trelleborg Sealing Solutions in Denmark, for instance, 42 robots helped meet the business' need for higher output when they were dispatched to various posts along the assembly line. But far from driving human workers to obsolescence, the presence of the robots proved a major boon on business, which in turn led Trelleborg to take on 50 new employees – humans, this time. This kind of worker-robot harmony bodes well for the future, and those anticipating a robot uprising will likely be waiting in vain.
