Page 48 - Changes and Challenges

Dementia
Changes and Challenges
skills are deteriorating, this can make the most familiar of tasks more difficult
and frustrating.

Let’s take Robots as a potential solution to some of our problems. Most
people would be familiar with ‘I Robot’. What comes to mind when you see
that title? Most people think of the movie ‘I Robot’ released in 2004 which is a
portrayal of the story ‘I Robot’ written by Dr Isaac Asimov in 1950 (compiled
from short stories he published in the 1940’s). In 1942, Asimov postulated his
6
Three Laws of Robotics quoted as being from the "Handbook of Robotics,
56th Edition, 2058 A.D.", are:

• First Law – A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction,
allow a human being to come to harm.
• Second Law – A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings
except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
• Third Law – A robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

These ‘Laws’ would be good guidelines for the development of any form of
autonomous assistive technology.

The ‘robotic’ technology emerging today has many design issues. Firstly, lets
discuss appearance. There is a great deal of effort going into making robots
look ‘human like’. In most cases they leave a lot to be desired. Because they
are readily identified as not human, they portray themselves as a lie and false.

Recently, I had an opportunity to see some robots in action in Japan. The
group of people I was with, from Europe, the USA and Australia, all found the
design to be uncomfortable and false. They suggested if they found one of
these ‘Asimo’ style robots assigned to assist them, they would feel obliged to
teach it a lesson using a cricket or baseball bat (depending on their
nationality). It was also interesting to note that many people were of the

6 1942 in his short story "Runaround" (also included in the 1950 collection I, Robot
also by Isaac Asimov).
Page 43 of 59