Is THIS a robot?

[Rocketmagnet]

Hi all,

I'm interested to hear from people what machines they think should qualify as a robot.  Which of the following do you personally consider to be robots?

1. A washing machine.

2. A washing machine with temperature control.

3. A washing machine with a conveyer belt to automatically load/unload.

4. A washing machine with an arm/gripper to automatically load/unload.

5. A washing machine which can move around and collect clothes, with an arm/gripper to automatically load/unload.

6. A washing machine which is sentient and can have a conversation with you.

7. A washing machine which is sentient and can have a conversation with you, with an arm/gripper to automatically load/unload.


Many thanks - Hugo

[Steve Joblin]

Wikopedia defins a robot as an "electro-mechanical or bio-mechanical device or group of devices that can perform autonomous or preprogrammed tasks."

A washing machine is an electro-mechanical device that performs preprogrammed tasks, so all 7 of your choices qualify as a "robot".

Next question please.

[Rocketmagnet]

Thank you for your answer.

I am still interested to hear thoughts from other people too.

Hugo

[Admin]

I think the average Joe would define a robot by how it looks, not by what it does.

The terminator doing your laundry looks like a robot, but a fully autonomous washing machine just looks like a washing machine

To me, a robot is an autonomous device that can sense and interact, through feedback control, with its environment autonomously. The fact that the bot can sense something, and then make a decision on what to do on its own, is key for me. So I guess 2 through 7 count.

[ed1380]

I second that.

[sdk32285]

Another interesting question is a standard laptop a robot.
Many laptops use inclinometers to detect drops so that it can protect the harddrive. Also there are many interactive processes such as power sensing (plugging a laptop into the wall and back out), as well as measuring battery life to adjust computer performace.

[dcole07]

A laptop doesn't interact with it's environment without additional equipment. Like an android body...

[Hal9000]

In my mind, I always see robots having some sort of mobility, joints etc. Arms, bipeds........

This can be emulated sometimes, on screens however. Like the screen is a face. I feel a bit weird calling that a robot. I'd rather call it an embedded system.

[JesseWelling]

Some days my girlfriend is a washing machine (don't tell I said so)

But seriously the folks of the 1900's would probably consider
any kind of simple washing machine from the 1950's and on as
 a Robot. I think it has to deal with preceptions.

A simpler question would be which is an advanced robot
.....but that's kind of boring

[Tsukubadaisei]

And then we get another question: What is an advanced robot?
Trying to define a robot is, for me, an open problem in linguistics.

My thought: A robot is a machine that can peform a series of tasks without receiving any external comand. So for me a washing machine would be a robot only if you turn it on and that is enough. Collecting dirty dishes, selecting the right amount of water and soap to use, drying and everything else should be done by the robot without the need of a human. The human would still have the power to programm the tasks for the washing mashine, but it would not be a necessity anymore. By this definition, most of the machines I see here, at my part-time job, at my university or anywhere else I don't like calling a robot(specialy the ones that have remote controls).

[JesseWelling]

Maybe I should have said "state of the art" because as it's been pointed out Robotics and AI is a moving target.
What used to be A robot or AI simply falls under some other  classification now.