Most people own an average, everyday phobia: snakes, spiders, clowns, ghosts and needles to name a few.
I’m pretty scared of needles, but the thought of living amongst robots makes my belly hair stand straight up. RIKEN, a Japanese science and technology business, isn’t helping my phobia disappear.
In August, RIKEN unveiled RIBA (Robot for Interactive Body Assistance), a 400-pound robot used to lift human beings—for example—from a bed to a wheelchair. RIBA can lift a human weighing up to 135 pounds. Also, the arms of the eerie-looking RIBA are covered with soft urethane foam for comfortable carrying.
Sure, RIBA might one day be a success in Japan. But if RIBA is going to be a success in America, it’s going to have to hit the weight room.
I don’t believe it’s going to stop there. After coming across RIBA on the Internet, I had to watch “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” to refresh my mind. If robots are being programmed to do routine activities for us like cook dinner, wash our back or vacuum the living room, then what is stopping these inventors and programmers from telling robots to comply with aggression?
What if James Cameron was right all along?
There is no doubt RIBA has good intentions with its main objective to help the elderly move safely from bed to wheelchair, from wheelchair to toilet seat.
Maybe this is a slight overreaction, or maybe not.
You may not think robots are a big deal now, but what if a robot was created to perform the same specific job that a person is getting paid for? What if the day comes when robots are performing 25 percent of the manual labor around the world?
This kind of stuff is going to affect my generation whether I like it or not. By the time we are 85-year-old drooling, decrepit senior citizens, robots might be taking our blood pressure, sorting out our medication…or taking over the world.