Schlagwort: Florida

Projekte, Publikationen

Spot Guards the Mar-a-Lago Resort

Spot from Boston Dynamics is the latest tool in the arsenal of the US Secret Service. This was reported by the BBC on November 17, 2024. The robot was recently spotted patrolling the perimeter of President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. As the video on the website shows, they do not carry weapons; „and each can be controlled remotely or automatically – as long as its route is pre-programmed“ (BBC, 17 November 2024). Passersby are warned by a sign on each of Spot’s legs that reads, „DO NOT PET.“ „I don’t know that anyone would be tempted to pet these robot dogs. They do not look cuddly,“ Melissa Michelson, a political scientist at Menlo College, told the BBC. Oliver Bendel, an expert in social robotics at the FHNW School of Business, disagrees. He has been working with Unitree Go2, which is half the weight and smaller than SPOT but otherwise comparable, since 2023. „The students are initially amazed or shocked when they see it. After a minute or two, their doubts are dispelled and they try to lure it in and stroke it.“ A robot like Spot is well suited to an estate like Mar-a-Lago. However, models such as K5 from Knightscope or RBwatcher from Robotnik/URG can also be used on the lawns.

Fig.: Spot at an exhibition in Germany

Tagungen, Vorträge

Machine Ethics in Florida

A special session „Formalising Robot Ethics“ takes place within the ISAIM conference in Fort Lauderdale (3 to 5 January 2018). The program is now available and can be viewed on isaim2018.cs.virginia.edu (link no longer valid). „Practical Challenges in Explicit Ethical Machine Reasoning“ is a talk by Louise Dennis and Michael Fischer, „Contextual Deontic Cognitive Event Calculi for Ethically Correct Robots“ a contribution of Selmer Bringsjord, Naveen Sundar G., Bertram Malle and Matthias Scheutz. Oliver Bendel will present „Selected Prototypes of Moral Machines“. A few words from the summary: „The GOODBOT is a chatbot that responds morally adequate to problems of the users. It’s based on the Verbot engine. The LIEBOT can lie systematically, using seven different strategies. It was written in Java, whereby AIML was used. LADYBIRD is an animal-friendly robot vacuum cleaner that spares ladybirds and other insects. In this case, an annotated decision tree was translated into Java. The BESTBOT should be even better than the GOODBOT.“

Fig.: Machine Ethics in Fort Lauderdale

Tagungen, Vorträge

Machine Ethics at ISAIM

Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel was invited to give a lecture at the ISAIM special session „Formalising Robot Ethics“. „The International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence and Mathematics is a biennial meeting that fosters interactions between mathematics, theoretical computer science, and artificial intelligence.“ (Website ISAIM) Oliver Bendel will present selected prototypes of moral and immoral machines and will discuss a project planned for 2018. The GOODBOT is a chatbot that responds morally adequate to problems of the users. It’s based on the Verbot engine. The LIEBOT can lie systematically, using seven different strategies. It was written in Java, whereby AIML was used. LADYBIRD is an animal-friendly robot vacuum cleaner that spares ladybirds and other insects. In this case, an annotated decision tree was translated into Java. The BESTBOT should be even better than the GOODBOT. Technically everything is still open. The ISAIM conference will take place from 3 to 5 January 2018 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Further information is available at isaim2018.cs.virginia.edu.

Abb.: Die Hand von Nao

Innovationen, Publikationen

Ein Maitag in Florida

Raffael Schuppisser von der Aargauer Zeitung war am 1. Juli 2016 im Gespräch mit dem Wirtschaftsinformatiker und Maschinenethiker Oliver Bendel. Thema war der Unfall des Tesla Model S in den USA bei aktiviertem Autopilot. Der Insasse war dabei ums Leben gekommen. Ein Sattelschlepper war über eine Kreuzung auf dem Highway, über welche die Richtung gewechselt werden kann, senkrecht zum PKW geraten, der die weiße Fläche für den Himmel oder ein Schild gehalten hat und unvermindert weitergefahren ist. „Eine Schwachstelle ist die Kamera. Diese lässt sich leicht täuschen.“ (Aargauer Zeitung, 2. Juli 2016) Die Verwechslung begünstigt hat ein ungünstiger Winkel. Der Wissenschaftler rät dazu, in den nächsten Jahren weitere Tests und Experimente zu machen, die Ergebnisse der optischen Sensoren gegenprüfen und hoch- und vollautomatisierte bzw. autonome Autos vorrangig auf Autobahnen ohne Wendemöglichkeiten verkehren zu lassen. Der Artikel vom 2. Juli kann über www.aargauerzeitung.ch/leben/forschung-technik/maschinen-ethiker-analysiert-toedlichen-unfall-die-technik-ist-noch-nicht-so-weit-130397988 aufgerufen werden; zudem ist er am 2. Juli in der gedruckten Ausgabe erschienen.

Abb.: In Florida unterwegs