Alt-BEAM Archive
Message #05124
To: beam@sgiblab.sgi.com
From: Darrell Johnson beamtastic@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 12:47:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [alt-beam] Re: What does purposeful mean, anyway?
ok... here's an example of why a 'wild' robot can be useful (as a
starting block):
Say you have a robot that can successfully roam around in the woods
without getting stuck/destroyed. Cool but not useful for much.... no
'purpose' you would say.
Now, put a higher level brain that has a sense of location that can
recieve remote communication.. The robot is told to go from point A to
point B. The robot takes this instruction and proceeds to go from point
A to B on it's own, without needing a human operator babysitting it's
every move, because it knows how to take care of itself, and navigate
the terrain..
Is this quite a ways off? You bet, but doesn't it sound like an
effective path to take to build better robots? Build a smart body that
can take care of itself, then give it a purpose. Whether that can be
done with BEAM-tech remains to be seen...
-darrell
--- JVernonM@aol.com wrote:
> I have
> wondered what we really
> need with "wild" robots. What is the reason or goal
> of such an effort? Surely
> to please our own egos, so we're back to square one.
> Truth is, we should
> probably concentrate on tasks and goals and build
> accordingly. Creating a
> wild bug to roam around in the woods is a cool idea,
> but I see no real
> purpose for it. Furthermore, it wastes a lot of
> energy making something with
> no practical use. This, I think, is a major flaw in
> Tilden's philosophy. In
> my opinion, he has the cart before the horse.
> Practical robotics will lead to
> living machines, not the other way around.
> Jim
>
>
>
===
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