科技英语新闻:Future of robotics: friend or foe?

In some developed nations, artificial intelligence (AI) is being developed with a focus on mobility and the future possibility of emotional communication between robots and humans.

The ROK government is developing AI systems for use in seven different areas, including defense, education and firefighting. Young-Jo Cho, an expert with the Robot Technology Planning Committee under the ROK Ministry of Knowledge, says that the country aims to become one of the world's top robot production bases by the end of 2018.

Tomomasa Sato, a professor with the University of Tokyo, hopes the Japanese government will continue to increase its budget for robotics research. He believes that the March 11 quake may send Japanese robotics research in a more practical direction, and that the development of Japanese robots may change its focus to public safety.

"It's not only an issue of budgeting, but also of rules and regulations," Tomomasa says. "We have to look for new rules to utilize new technology in the future."

Japan already has several regulations concerning the usage of robots, including one regulation that prohibits some types of robots from being used on public roads.

However, since future robots will be capable of much more than their contemporary counterparts, new rules should be created to ensure their safe usage, says Professor Satoshi Tadokoro.

Wang Tianmiao says that current regulations concerning the usage of robots are largely based on the "Three Laws of Robotics" created by famed science-fiction author Isaac Asimov in his short-story collection "I, Robot." Asimov's laws essentially stated that robots could not be allowed to harm human beings or allow them to come to harm.

"Since different countries have different situations, the details of these regulations should vary as well," says Wang. Satoshi believes that robots used in daily life should be more stringently regulated than those used by the military.

"Regulations are necessary not because robots are strong enough to pose a threat to humans, but because the misuse of these robots may cause harm," says Professor Cao Qixin, deputy director of the Robotics Institute of Shanghai Jiaotong University.