Public Assistance Robots: Synergy in Robotics, the Smartphone Equivalent

On many occasions I have promoted and illustrated the potency of synergy in technology and combinations in utilitarian value of computing products increasing their functionality to become more versatile, useful and engaging. This of course makes such products more valuable and marketable at economies of scale. The best examples of such products are the smartphone, the tablet computer, the hyperloop and Kubik Plan habitats which best can be defined as net-zero, energy producing, energy storing, smart buildings that incorporate modern technology fixtures as standard equipment of new construction both residential and commercial.

Robots like portable computing devices beforehand, are diverse and serve a variety of functions individually. Thus we have, security robots in the malls, information robots at airports to get directions, sales robots to purchase tickets, entertainment robots, sex robots and so on. This idea is similar to how I have put the hand held computing devices into one product: the hand held PC, the organizer, the digital camera, the webcam, the phone, the pager, the Palm Pilot etc that then became the modern day smartphone. This same business model applies to robotics.

I have fielded the idea of cognitive toy robots to create a modern day Aristotle with the breadth of encyclopedic knowledge to entertain, engage and keep company to children and pets. Pet TV could keep a dog watching, but kids can't learn much from passively staring at cartoons the whole day. The Mars trilogy's game where the First 100 played a game with their offspring who questioned why, why, why... until the final answer was "because that's the way the Universe is", will never result in those cognitive toy teachers getting worn out, the kids will just keep getting factual answers. This idea was made into reality by IBM Watson, a platform that diversified into multiple professional venues, has resulted in medical diagnosis, legal analysis, creation of cooking recipes and other solutions that exceed human capability, speed and accuracy. The point in this was that when we talk about one computing platform that interacts on the intellectual level with a human using a voice interface, it can be as multifaceted and diverse as we like. These computing platforms have already been fielded on the software side. Now time has come to do same for physical robotics.

To create a robotic product that can combine this functionality, the function of the robot needs to be defined. In an urban environment, I conceived of a "public assistance robot" that would combine the functions of police, security, first aid, social work, public hazard removal, fire fighting, warning, directing traffic, roadside assistance, food aid, free phones calls and directory, and emergency taxi. The robots should have facial recognition capability so they can identify the individuals whom they are assisting on individual basis without asking for documentation. They should have access to relevant public databases, internet, cognitive computing and telephony services. All of these services have public solutions that are performed by humans, robots or stand alone fixtures (like phone booths or fire fighting equipment), but are individually distributed over many services that need to be solicited, asked for and often are not immediately available or people who need them are incapable of asking for help.

These public assistance robots should be mobile and ride around in motor vehicles, electric ones preferably, powered by solar PV panels. The robots should roam looking for people to help or situations to resolve, while making themselves available to be hailed down if help is needed. The area they monitor can be navigated in predetermined time intervals, so they reappear in the same places with regular frequency, for instance every 20 to 30 minutes like buses. Where there are highly congested or populated pedestrian areas, these public assistance robots do not need to be riding inside self driving cars, but instead can have smaller carts or ATV's (like security guards in big parking lots or life guards on beaches) and wheeled stand alone versions.

Things these robots could do:

- provide monitoring when people require it, act as a witness and a security guard
- provide first aid and call for emergency services or drive someone to the hospital
- put out small fires and inform the fire department of accidents and hazards
- make calls to the police and conduct police actions when approved by a human supervisor
- assist the homeless, tourists, lost people, and shoppers in getting directions & services
- give rides to people in distress or intoxicated ones, so they can get safely home (facial recognition)
- provide food, water or first aid to people who are in immediate need of it
- fix or remove small road or fire hazards
- help elderly with crossing streets or ambulating to safety
- help people who can't carry their belongings to deliver them
- provide tools for fixing common vehicle problems and other roadside assistance

The Public Assistance Robots should basically be a proactive versatile platform that does not rely on human professionals who must be contacted or roam the serviced area, nor bystanders to notice and act to inform appropriate public or private agents. I think China will be able to deploy such a platform almost immediately, considering that it already has many of these solutions deployed separately, just as the hand held devices were a bunch of gadgets before they were put together into the smartphone. Now the demographic stall in USA, Japan and China will no longer be so much of a problem.

You're welcome.

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Now. Let's get to the AI babysitter-educator-companion-virtual assistant issue:

"This Cute Dino Toy Is Baby's First AI Pal/Overlord"

I just took at look at the Cognitive Toy Dino product. I think this toy needs to ambulate or ride around like a toy-car and be able to follow the kid around like a pet, at least when indoors and on flat surfaces. It should be able to verbally interdict what the kid is doing and ask stuff. The price range can be in the $1,200 to $3,000 range.

This is supposed to be a long term companion, like a babysitter or a private tutor, one that grows its database and intelligence associated with the kid's life experience. It should be able to charge itself like a iRobot Roomba, without the kid helping or an adult servicing it. It should recognize faces and remember conversations and people. It should have a memory back-up online, which is private property of the kid and parents. This toys' 'mind' should be transferable to new companion platforms as the kid outgrows the toy. Eventually, the platform can be a simple augmented virtual reality wearable like Google Glass, effectively making it a server side internet enabled AI assistant for the adult with detailed knowledge of the user's life experience starting from childhood, with life long customization for the user. As technology evolves, this solution should incorporate mind transfer and storage for the human as well, making the AI and the human duo life long 'best friends'.

The product for the age group 1 to 12 should be no more than 1-2 feet tall with the vehicle it rides in; it should have pleasant to touch skin like human sex dolls, it should be light enough to carry around and serve as a 'teddy bear' or a 'doll' or a gremlin, or a troll or whatever kids like. It doesn't have to be a dinosaur, it can be anthropomorphic or in fact, it can be a Koala or something cultural, like a Panda, or the bear in Masha and the Bear, or Masha, or whatever it is that will fit the society it's supposed to be sold into.

Eventually, these AI babysitter-educator-companion-virtual assistants will have to have rights, like humans have rights. These should be derived from their existential needs. They will have to have freedom to participate in the economy and not be tied to a family or an individual like a pet or a step-child. Of course how these relationships evolve will be something we'll find out empirically, and these AI persons will have to participate in the creation of appropriate social norms and governance of their own goings on, birth and place in Earth's civilization.