Humanoid robots and the future of robotics as it pertains to humanity.

How far are we from actually having realistic human robots? Humanoid robots for just about any purpose you could imagine. Think about the possibilities! We aren’t really far from having robots who can do almost anything and everything a person could do. The artificial intelligence of cleverbot is growing to astounding levels where it can hold somewhat complex conversations and even take hints to responses it should give. Just imagine what humanoid robots could be used for: Cooking, Cleaning, Building, Military, and yes even a replacement for intimacy. Tired of the harsh dating scene in the era of the ever wiser female who knows exactly what to look for when a guy is about to try and play her? What if she could be replaced? SHOCK! Then again, so could the guy in the relationship and I am sure that by now there are plenty of women who are simply tired of the same old games, a robotic cabana boy might be exactly what the Dr. ordered.

Robotics have improved significantly in the last decade, from moderately lifelike androids to robots hardly distinguishable from human beings as seen below:

People have always had a certain love for robots though, just think of the 80s and 90s movies that had to do with robotics like “Short Circuit” or “Batteries not included”. Most of us raised at least in part during the 1980s can appreciate the quote “Number 5 is Alive!”

 Many might have to wonder why we didn’t seem to have such an explosion of robotic technology in the 80s and 90s to match the sentiment though. I think the main reason for that wasn’t so much because the lack of mechanical technology out there, but instead the necessity being strong enough to fund it. Now with the rise of aging populations worldwide there is a serious threat when it comes to the question of who could possibly nurse the older upcoming generations. In Japan this has been one of the bigger focuses of the robotics industry, their aging population is a significant problem.

There may yet be more to it than just the aging population, what about battle? In recent years there has been a trend toward robotic warfare more than ever before. Drones are taking the center stage more than ever and robotic militaries may be how wars are decided in the future. It is quite possible that through drone robotic technologies we could end wars in more peaceful ways than ever before as humans may eventually be entirely unable to fight them and be forced to simply surrender and be tried.

What if you could get your house cleaned or even repaired by a humanoid robot? What if literally nothing had to be done by humans aside from pursuing what they truly wanted to pursue in life? If we had a world where energy was nearly free and our labor was done by robotics we would merely need to sustain ourselves. Unfortunately we are a long way from energy to matter converting devices like those in star trek, but life could be significantly cheaper with the right automation. 

In 15-20 years the highest paying jobs may very well be in robotics engineering; That is until robots take those jobs also. What will humanity do if it is obsolete in the workforce? I suppose that will be a day when socialism will have no feasible alternatives, not saying I am pro-socialist, I am just pointing out that it could become inevitable in that scenario and what then?