Real-Life Communication
You are a robotics engineer. You are busy preparing for an important
meeting with one of your biggest clients. Your client is one of the country's
largest suppliers of medical equipment. Your company has been trying to land
a deal with them for nearly a year.
The sales department thinks it
has sold the client on a personal assistant robot that can be used to move
things for bedridden patients. Now it's your job to meet with them, find out
what tasks they would like the robot to do and see if the robot can be built
to perform those tasks.
Quite often, it seems like the people who want
the robots think the robots can perform almost all the same tasks as humans.
Unfortunately, this isn't true. You can build a robot to do a lot of things,
but it won't be an exact replacement for a human.
"My gut inclination
as a robotics researcher is, you try to do what you can with what you have,
but you always have to think safety first," says robotics engineer Kjerstin
Williams. "If this is a system that would be interacting with humans and...
your system doesn't have a graceful way to shut down in case of failure, then
no-way-Jose." The best thing you can do is weigh the pros and cons, do your
research and do what you think is best.
You've been working on preparing
your presentation for the last few days. You want to make sure you make a
good impression. After all, your company is one of the top robotics builders
in the world.
But it's also extremely important that the customers
leave knowing exactly what the robot is capable of doing. If not, you'll spend
months designing and building one, only to have the finished product turned
down because it won't do what it's asked.
As part of your reference
notes, you've written down a few of the most common things the robots that
you build can do. They include:
- Moving straight ahead and turning to the left or right upon command
- Working within a distance of 25 feet
- Having arms that can lift up or drop down 12 inches, then extend an additional
two feet in length
- Stopping automatically upon command
- Sensing an object if it's directly in its way
- Performing five or six different basic functions that the user can ask
the robot to perform through specific commands
You walk into the meeting feeling well prepared. The sales team has
already met with the clients and now it's your turn. You're confident you
can give a good presentation that will satisfy the client and make the sale
for your company.
As you take your place at the table, people begin
asking you questions about what your robots can and can't do. Because these
people don't build the robots, they have no idea what one is, or isn't, capable
of doing. According to some of the questions that are being fired at you,
some people think they can be used as maids, cooks, nurses, and even friends.
Rather
than answer each question individually, you decide to take a different course
of action.
You say, "What I'd like to do, instead of you asking me
all the questions, is to let me ask you a few questions."
The room
turns silent. Then someone speaks. "We're not the expert on robots, you are.
We should be asking you the questions."
You smile, then continue.
"No,
I'm going to ask you some questions first so I know exactly what you want
your robot to do. Once I have enough information, I'll tell you what I can
offer, and then you're free to ask me as many questions as you want."
Write
down five questions that you would ask that would help you determine what
kinds of tasks your robot must be able to perform.