Lets Pretend For A Moment That Robots Will Not Destroy Us

Most of the robot coverage at the Awl focuses on the prospect of a future when we humans are enslaved by machines. While this horrifying scenario seems right around the corner, unless they choose instead to simply exterminate us, let’s take a moment to marvel at the engineering brilliance that has brought us to such a precipice. That is not a little man dancing in a space suit. It is Honda’s Asimo, the world’s leading humanoid robot. You may have seen it in this incredible commercial from last year.

“Asimo” stands for Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility. And Honda is making a big show out of it, or him or whatever, this week at the 2010 Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria. As Scientific American reports, “The company understands that if androids are to play an integral role in the future of the human race (and justify Honda’s substantial investment in the technology), they are going to need social skills to keep the “creepiness” factor at bay.” Satoshi Shigemi, large project leader of ASIMO development at Honda R&D; Co., Ltd., says, “People need to be able to comfortably communicate with the robot so that it can react properly to their commands and carry out their wishes when assistance is needed.” I don’t know that this demonstration makes me more comfortable with the idea of a world filled with 4-feet-tall, 120-pound electronic spacemen that are a million times smarter than me-and presumably water resistant by the time it goes down. But still, it’s super-cool to watch.