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Technically Speaking
Here Come

the Robots

by Dave Trecker
saw a good example just the other day. And I wasn’t delusional. More recently I read that boxing promoters are exploring the use
At a promotional show in Baltimore, I watched a team of robots of robotic pugilists to slam each other around a well-padded ring. Just
I assemble an entire car body. No kidding. They put it together in how you count out a knocked-down machine is unclear, as is how you
less than an hour. get the other machine to go to a neutral corner. Promoters are unfazed.
Granted the demonstration was teed up to succeed, with everything “It doesn’t have to be perfect,” one said. “The fact that it’s different is
in place, well-rehearsed and choreographed. Even so, it was pretty good enough these days.”
impressive, a glimpse into the future. Then there’s the musical robot. The one that plays “Twinkle,
And the future may be closer than we think. Many factories now twinkle” on what looks vaguely like a violin. Don’t scoff. Next will be a
routinely use robots to at least help with assembly. A Hyundai plant in brass ‘bot, one with auxiliary steam to go along with squeaky fingering.
Georgia deploys 750 robots to work alongside 1,450 humans, a one-to- Drumming is an easy add-on. Can a full orchestra be far behind?
two ratio that’s shrinking. Or so says the Wall Street Journal. But the growth of robotics is not all silliness. The medical
And now, coupled with artificial intelligence, the sky’s the limit. community is exploring ways to marshal its health benefits. Columbia
Here are some examples. University’s L.S. Dugdale claims that machines will soon be able to
Carefully programmed robots can create art. I saw one on television help the elderly get out of bed, bathe them, and help them move about
the other day paint a pretty good Monet lookalike. the house. Writing in the WSJ, he posits that the overall cost may be
Automated restaurant kitchens routinely use robots to make salads, about $20,000, not bad when compared with nursing home care.
apportioning ingredients in perfect ratios – whether a Waldorf salad or Here’s the deal. Robots will be teamed with artificial intelligence
a potato salad or a Caesar salad. Human sous chefs keep the machines and programmed to carry out routine functions. Dugdale writes that
filled with fresh ingredients. Tesla’s humanoid robots can accomplish more than 1,500 tasks, “their
Cities are starting to put robots to work. Kansas City uses them, hands now capable of executing 60 of the 100 distinct movements the
coupled with drones, to fight fires, delivering the water to exactly where human hand can perform.”
it’s needed. Sanford, NC, uses them to mow lawns. Detroit uses them He goes on to say, “If robots can now fold laundry, serve food,
to scoop trash in city parks. sweep the floor, operate computers, walk and dance, it’s plausible that
China is setting the standards. Humanoid-type robots are all the soon they will help our elders out of bed and give them sponge baths…
rage, with over 140 companies turning out ‘bots as large as 5 feet 11 I think I’ll soon be writing prescriptions for eldercare robots.”
inches with 34 joints. And this can’t come too soon for us old timers. We need all the help
These big guys emulate their human counterparts in every way we can get.
possible, including in sports. Last year there was a hilarious story of Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living in Naples.
robots competing in track meets – with little success. Any race longer
than 50 meters was a disaster. The ‘bots kept bumping into human
runners.

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