Now we’ve all pondered and joked about the possibilities that one day the world will be taken over by all the different machines that we have made and rely on. And there is no doubt in my mind that everyone has seen at least one movie relating to similar matters, such as; iRobot, Wall-E, Tron, and most likely many more. (If you haven’t seen a film like this – then get to a cinema immediately!) I mean, we’re already able to have conversations with our mobile phones, since the iPhone 4S with Siri came into our lives!
So really, all of these late night conversations that we have with our friends when we’re attempting an ‘in-depth’ discussion, are actually starting to become reality. For instance, when your friend says:
‘Dude, imagine if like, machines and stuff actually understood us…’
Well man, machines do understand us. They are programmed to recognise our mistakes and try and to help us resolve them. Many internet sites recommends thing that we might like based on our previous searches, the internet knows us.
‘Yeah, but what if like, machines like learn to learn?’
There are already machines that are programmed to learn. Siri, met him? He learns to understand your voice, in your dialect and how you speak. You can teach Siri to learn where your work and home are, and then ask him to do tasks based around this. “Remind me to pick up carrots when I leave work.” DONE! This new technology will only continue to grow, and then most likely be used in other products, so get used to it.
‘So… does this mean that one day… we might actually become robots!?’
I somehow don’t think that we are going to turn into machines with cogs and wires, and need constant oiling. However Touché have been working on touch and gesture sensing in the real world. This video shows how the way we interact with surfaces or other objects can determine what actions we wish to take. For instance, closing a doorknob with a firm grasp can mean ‘out for the day’ whereas closing the door with one finger hooked can mean ‘be back in five minutes’.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4tYpXVTjxA&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
The research and testing is already being done for this technology, and so ‘the future’ is looking like it’s right round the corner. Are we ready? Who knows. Maybe that’s why we have these late night ‘in-depth’ conversations to prepare us.