Lurking in mysterious laboratories around the world, new generations of robots have been born.
It sounds unbelievable, but it’s true.
In fact, the fact that robots can self-evolve is an area that has been investigated by scientists for a long time, since the time of mathematician John von Neumann in 1949. And now, British engineers are gradually turning it into reality.
Specifically, scientists from York University, Edinburgh Napier University, University of the West of England (UK) and University of Amsterdam spent 4 years with an investment of more than 2 million pounds from the government to create a generation of robots capable of
Reproductive robots?
Human `sex` is essentially a way for us to combine two sets of genes together.
`Basically, the system will mix the ‘DNA’ of two robots to create a child robot, then print it. This process operates completely automatically, without human intervention` – quoted Professor
The idea was put into the ARE (Autonomous Evolutionary Robotics) project, and they created a system capable of doing just that, called RoboFab.
`The whole ‘reproduction’ process is done in a sealed box, like a factory. You can send this factory into space, and instead of having to design the robot yourself and expect it to work well, the manufacturer itself
Cambridge University also has the same idea when creating a `mother robot` capable of `giving birth` to children, testing to see which child is best, changing the design… These robots will be very good support for children.
The first application of this robotic system is to clean up nuclear waste in the UK.
Fears of an era of robot chaos
There were certain difficulties in this project.
However, according to George Zarkadakis – an expert in artificial intelligence (AI), he is concerned about robots becoming… more evil, when they are too intelligent.
`How much control will we be able to control them? That is the question that needs to be answered. For example, we send robots to the asteroid belt to research. What if, in the process of evolution, they find
In other words, the world will need to choose between the benefits and harms of creating robotic systems that can reproduce and evolve on their own.
Source: Telegraph
