The Aibo (Japanese for mate and acronym for Artificial Intelligence Robot) was presented in an
interesting knick of time, the last two years of the former century. After the
bringing down of the Berlin Wall and the ending of the Cold War, people needed
something cuddly. And the toy industry with for example Warner responded with
Furby, a mix of a cat and an owl. The pet was fluffy and able to speak,
although it never made its promise of self learning come true. Yet fluffly was
loved by babies and female pensionados. The pet was speaking to them, usually
in English, felt fluffy and could be turned off and on. Beside it was not
really an expensive pet.
Spot, the pet from Google is a different kind of breed. It
is as high as a young Great Dane. Its features are not very natural yet. It is
(yet) not a likeable pet. It is still a technical pet even with a rear light at
its tail, just like domestic dogs have these days for their evening walkies.
And from the beginning it was made clear that the dog would be a new work horse
type of robo-animal and not exactly a pet. Spot fits in Google’s portfolio of
mobiles such as drones and self-driving cars. Spot is going to be a sturdy dog
which will not easily roll over to be cuddled or when it is hit or kicked. Spot
will be a delivery dog for example being used by facility managers for having
the mail distributed within an office or perhaps by the national mail services.
It is interesting to see on the one hand the lifecycle of
Aibo coming to an end, while on the other hand Google kicks Spot into the world.
There is really a world of difference between them. The Aibo is realistic and
seen as real pet, while Spot is work horse-like mobile. But the Aibos pose a
basic question: are there ethics for living with robots and do the
robo-pets have rights to a decent pet life and funeral? Sony said: we are pensioning off you, flock of
Aibos, so get to the scrap heap. But the people who possess an Aibo have come
to see them as part of their life and are not willing to bring them to the scrap
heap, like sheep to the slaughter house. One owner has already taken his Aibo
along into his grave. And the other Aibo owners are now calling for an old-dogs
home with a resident robot technician. The Aibo owners might even compose a
digi-euthanasia statement for when the Aibo gets really old and disassembled. But is there then a cementary or a crematory for robo-pets?
Rest in peace, mate
© Tom's new stuff page
Sources:
No comments:
Post a Comment