II. Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
Making robots work well in the home is incredibly difficult. Their sensory apparatus is limited because sensors are expensive and interpretation (especially common-sense knowledge) is still more suited for research than deployment. Robotic arms are expensive to build and not very reliable. This limits the range of possibilities: Mowing and vacuuming? Sure. Sorting laundry? Hard, but doable. Picking up dirty items around the home? Doubtful. How about assistants for the elderly or those who need medical supervision? This is a booming area of exploration, but I am skeptical. Today's devices are not reliable, versatile, or intelligent enough - not yet, anyway. Moreover, the social aspects of the interaction are far more complex than the technical ones, something the technology-driven enthusiasts typically fail to recognize.
Three likely directions for the future are entertainment, home appliances, and education. We can start with today's existing devices and slowly add on intelligence, manipulative ability, and function. Start small and build. The market for robots that entertain by being cute and cuddly is already well established. The second generation of vacuum cleaners is smarter than the first. Sony's dog gets smarter and less expensive with each new version. We don't get think of washing machines, microwave ovens, and coffee makers as robots, but why not? They don't move around the house, but they are getting better and smarter every year. And when the coffee maker is connected to the pantry and dishwasher, that will be a home robot worthy of the name: same for the coupling of sorting, washing, drying, and storing clothes.
Education is a powerful possibility. There is already a solid basis of educational devices that aid learning. Today's robots can read aloud in engaging voices. They can be cute and lovable - witness the responses to the multiple quasi-intelligent animals on the toy market. A robot could very well interact with a child, offering educational benefits as well. Why not have the robot help the child learn the alphabet, teach reading, vocabulary, pronunciation, basic arithmetic, maybe basic reasoning? Why not music and art, geography and history? And why restrict it to children? Adults can be willing and active learners.
Now this is a direction worthy of exploration: Robot as teacher. Not to replace school, not to replace human contact and interaction, but to supplement them. The beauty here is that these tasks are well within the abilities of today's devices. They don't require much mobility nor sophisticated manipulators. Many technologists dream of implementing Neil Stephenson's children's tutor in his novel The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. Why not? Here is a worthy challenge.
