The robot takeover in Terminator and Matrix may happen if we keep upgrading our robots. According to Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, their scientists have built the world’s first technology that can let robot parents give birth to their offspring. They can meet their mating partners, send their genomes through Wi-Fi, and produce their offspring with 3D printing.
Photo courtesy: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam June. 21, 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3620314/
This “Robot Baby” project is for building more advanced and intelligent robots by through evolution. Robots will pass DNAs and randomly combining their features to autonomously produce new successive generations. Through the evolution, the successive generations will have more advanced physical forms and behaviors that are suitable to work in unknown environments like other planets.
Photo courtesy: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam June. 21, 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3620314/
How exactly do robots reproduce? According to daily mail, Robots are put into an arena where they live, work, and reproduce. At there, they can communicate and even mate the others. Once they decide to produce children, they will send their genomes through Wi-Fi. The reproduction mechanism then randomly combines the features of software and hardware and sends the code to the 3d printers for the birth of robot children.
Photo courtesy: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam June. 21, 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3620314/
The scientists do not just build an arena for robots; they also build a clinic and a nursery for these babies. Once these robot babies are born, they need to go through a learning process. If they pass muster, they then become an adult which can give birth to the next generation. The scientists say that it’s the new era of industrial revolution that robots can act autonomously and produce children.
Photo courtesy: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam June. 21, 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3620314/
The first robot baby was born in February 2016 and unveiled at Campus Party on May 26. During the eighteen months of development, the scientist had done the test of a full life cycle.
The Netherland scientists were not the first group that devotes in this field. Just in Aug 2015, the researchers from the Cambridge University developed a mother robot that can build her children, observe their movement, and change her design in the next version.
Photo courtesy: University of Cambridge June. 21, 2016 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11799274/
Though the two technologies look like a perfect recipe for a total robot takeover, they may lead the new industrial revolution and guide us to other planets or deep sea.
Robot Baby Project full video:
Renference:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3620314/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11799274/