How soon will it be before robots become so intelligent that they will be able to do things, such as teaching languages or looking after patients in hospital? Some experts believe this will happen within twenty years while others disagree.
One London company, UAS, (University Automated Systems) has already developed some machines that can be used as "home helps" for old people unable to look after themselves and who are living on their own or in special homes. These machines can now do such things as cooking eggs and cleaning the floor, and the company says that future models will also accept simple voice instructions and be controlled by a "brain" that is the equivalent (替代品) of the latest IBM microcomputer. The director of UAS, Mr Henry Jeffries, believes that in the next five to ten years, companies will have developed even more sophisticated (复杂的) robots for use in industry. By that time, it is likely that they will also have begun to sell new forms of these machines into ordinary homes. Robots could do a wide range of household tasks, such as preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning houses and so on. By then, the price of such machines may have come down to as little as $ 1, 000.
But Dr Sandra Lomax, who has done some research about artificial intelligence at Sussex University and MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), believes we have a long way to go before we can develop truly intelligent machines.
Preparing an omelette (煎蛋) may seem easy enough. But suppose one of the eggs has gone bad, even the most "intelligent" robot would probably still use it. If something slightly unusual needs doing—something that requires a little of ordinary human imagination, a robot is useless. They need programming for even the simplest tasks and are not able to learn from experience. "Teaching a robot how to recognise a bad egg is far more difficult than teaching it to prepare the omelette," she says.
