Today we think of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) as going hand in hand, but that wasn’t always the case. According to the Oxford dictionary, AI is the study and development of computer systems that can copy intelligent human behavior. Belying that pithy definition are a nomenclature and taxonomy that can strain one’s natural intelligence. AI is alternatively classified according to its capabilities, its functionalities, and its practical applications.
AI
For most of us, interactions with AI occur through four types: machine learning (such as Pinterest), neural networks (such as Google’s Deep Mind), natural language processing (such as ChatGPT), and robotics (such as the da Vinci surgical system) (Figure 1).
Although AI has recently burst into public consciousness with ChatGPT, it has been brewing for a long time – arguably since Alan Turing asked in 1950, “Can machines think?” According to Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, five years after Turing’s prescience, John McCarthy coined the term AI, earning him the moniker of father of AI. Harvard’s Science in the News indicates that 1955 was also the year when what is considered the first, albeit rudimentary, AI program, Logic Theorist, was developed. From 1955 to 1974, computer scientists made steady progress with AI, particularly in the interpretation of spoken language, due to gains in information storage and processing capacity. It wasn’t until the 1980s, though, that AI leapt forward with the introduction of deep learning algorithms and major investment by the Japanese government. In 1997 the AI apotheosis seemed imminent with the defeat of the reigning world chess champion, Gary Kasparov, to IBM’s chess computer programming, Deep Blue, and the release of the first publicly available speech recognition software, Dragon Systems. In the 2010s, machine learning made dramatic strides, which helped discern patterns in large, complex data sets. Major strides in generative AI in the 2020s have given us transformative tools pretrained on extensive data sets. In 2022, OpenAI launched the ChatGPT. Mid-2024 saw the release of its more human-like (emotionally expressive) form, ChatGPT-4o.
Robotics
Strictly speaking, robotics is the design of machines capable of automating human tasks. Robots can be programmed to do simple repetitive jobs without having to be intelligent or capable of learning.
The earliest history of robotics dates to the ancient world. There are references to prehistoric robots. According to Stanford’s computer science website, a water clock with human figurines in 3000 BC Egypt, was first recorded use of a mechanical device to aid man. Mechanical imitations of animals and humans were reported in 4th century China and 11th century India. Leonardo da Vinci designed a mechanical knight in 1495. But it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that automation technology burgeoned in response to industrial demand.
The word “robot” originated in a 1921 Czech play by Karel Capek. In it, the robots are mechanical men built to work on factory assembly lines and, as if foretelling 21st century fears, revolt against their human masters. The first robots as we conceive of them today took the form of “reprogrammable manipulators” invented by George Devol in the early 1950s. Devol had no commercial success with his invention and in the late 1960s, Joseph Engleberger, a businessman and engineer, acquired Devol’s patent, modified it into an industrial robot, and became known as the “father of robotics.”
AI + Robotics: Two Fields Alchemize
About two decades after Devol’s invention, Charles Rosen led the design of a more sophisticated version of Engleberger’s industrial robot, one that could accomplish a task without step-by-step instructions and move around autonomously. It couldn’t escape its name of Shakey for its wobbly, noisy movements, but by integrating vision, natural language, and localization interactions, it later inspired modern day technologies such as GPS and robot vacuum cleaners.
Also in the 1970s, roboticists at Waseda University in Japan developed the first android, a humanoid robot with the ability to walk with legs and grasp objects with hands, and with visual, auditory, and verbal systems. In the late 1980s, Honda Corporation began a humanoid research and development program to design robots capable of more interactions with humans. The 1990s saw the application of robot-assisted surgery and the Sojourner robot to study the surface of Mars. The 2010s were marked by some major developments in robotics, such as the first humanoid launched into space, largely due to the increased availability of robotic components, and by major developments in AI. Today AI and robotics are seamlessly integrated (Figure 2). AI robotics is now poised to bring the world of the Jetsons into the 21st century in ways such as self-driving cars and housekeeping robots. And the human fears first expressed in a Czech play in 1921 seem very real to us in 2024.
Read Part 2 of this series: The effect of artificial intelligence on research.
Read the Summer 2024 AWIS Magazine article about AI roboticist, Dr. Ayanna Howard, and her work in assistive technologies.
Patricia Soochan is a senior program strategist in Data Science, Research, and Analysis in the Center for the Advancement of Science Leadership & Culture at Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). In her role, she collaborates with the Center’s programs to capture, analyze, synthesize, and communicate program-level data to promote organizational effectiveness and evaluation. Previously she shared lead responsibility for the development and execution of Inclusive Excellence (IE1&2) initiative and had lead responsibility for science education grants provided primarily to undergraduate institutions, a precursor of IE. She is a member of the Change Leaders Working Group in the Accelerating Systemic Change Network and is a contributing writer for AWIS Magazine and The Nucleus. Prior to joining HHMI, she was a science assistant at the National Science Foundation, a science writer for a consultant to the National Cancer Institute, and a research and development scientist at Life Technologies. She received her BS and MS degrees in biology from George Washington University.
Editor’s Note: The contents of this article are not affiliated with HHMI.