Issues and Solutions
With all of the potential benefits that come from adopting social robotics one would wonder why we have been and continue to be so hesitant to hop on board with it. Below are some reasons that have put the development of social robotics into people's minds associated with fear.
1. The Uncanny Valley - The robots look and act like a human, but something isn't quite right.
- Developers should hold off on making robots too human-like for now until the technology can make the difference nonexistant. Robots that are too close to human-lke interaction but isn't quite there proves to leave people with an uneasy feeling.
2. Hollywood and Social Stigmas - Started all the way in writings in Greek Mythology and novel in the 1800s. Then movies such as: A Space Odyssey, War Games, Terminator, The Matrix
- The only true solution is time. Newer movies have come out depicting friendlier robots, such as Wall-E, iRobot, and Chappie. However, it is unlikely that older generations will be able to get their long set notions of robot constructs being bad guys. As they make way for the newer generations our society will grow more accepting of the idea of a human-robot relationship.
3. Recent Project Malfunctions - Google's AlphaGo and Microsoft's Twitter AI
- Time for the projects to develop and become more accurate. More experiements need to be tested to gather information and advance the technology.
4. Idea that Robots will take our Jobs - Social robotics and robotics in general will bring a major paradigm shift into the economic market. To many people, especially unskilled laborers, this presents a very real threat to their livelihood and as such, have a much harder time accepting social robotics.
- A universal basic income. This would allow a country's people whose jobs were replaced to get enough money to survive on while they can supplement the income with jobs that it would not be practical for robots to do. This allows the economy to grow from the efficiency and in turn grow the people's income.
