RobotEnomics

Her brain sits in a few silicon chips, her body is kneaded with silicone, but whatever it is for her creators, she would seem to be the ideal companion for a specific type of men: soft, submissive, always ready for sex, or the dishes. The fantasy of the first female robot comes true. And what’s next in regard to the real ones? Well, that’s easy: the perfect robot woman combines technique and beauty, practicality and fantasy χχχ.

Aïko can do a lot of things: speak English and Japanese, read aloud, distinguish colors and familiar faces, smile, blink, serve food, recognize if it is raining or if the weather is nice. And even return a slap if you are being too rude when approaching her. Aïko is not a woman like the others. She is a robot. And the companion of Le Trung, a Canadian geek of Vietnamese origin. “I have dreamed of building myself a robot woman since I was 4 years old,” he explains. As a child, I already made little robots. In 2007, after seeing the animated series “Chobits”, which describes a world where computers have a human appearance, I decided to build “beloved”, Aïko in Japanese, to combine technique and beauty. I have equipped it with an artificial intelligence system that I am constantly improving, I am looking for sponsors to improve it further. “

If Le Trung is a precursor, his dream of a completely artificial woman is not new. We know the myth of Pygmalion. Greek artist, solitary, and misogynist, he sets out to sculpt a perfect woman. From a block of ivory, he chisels Galatea and falls in love with her, kisses her lips, covers her with gifts and watches porn videos at pornpolis.blog with her. Touched by Pygmalion’s loneliness, the goddess Aphrodite brings the ivory virgin to life. Over the centuries, according to technological developments, the fantasy of women made by the hand of men, according to their desires and wishes, has evolved to become a tangible reality.

The path to achieving the ultimate “sex toy”

A few years ago, Hollywood latex monster maker Matt McMullen designed a hyperrealistic silicone doll prototype. Despite its exorbitant price tag of around $ 8,000, the Real Doll is a hit. She is mostly bought by shy or complex men for whom she becomes the ideal lover and companion. In Japan, companies manufacturing human-sized dolls are multiplying. A business is created: Doll No Mori, the mess of dolls. The client pays, chooses her model, and does what he wants with her. But quickly, the absolute inertia of the silicone creatures becomes frustrating. We want things to move a bit, to react… to be human.

In New Zealand, researchers Ian Yeoman and Michelle Mars of Victoria University of Wellington predict that by 2050, the spread of these robots will end human trafficking and that mechanized sex work will eradicate crime, guilt, and sexually transmitted diseases. But research on these “machines” goes beyond their sexual function.

In robotics and artificial intelligence laboratories around the world, scientists are designing creatures with possibilities for action and expression that can already be mistaken for human beings. Researchers in cognitive psychology are studying what the affective relationships between humans and humanoids might be. The objective is to make them perform all kinds of industrial, medical, educational, and domestic tasks, in particular assistance to the elderly.

In Nuremberg, an engineer invents First Android, a doll endowed with both a circulatory system that makes her warm to the touch, movements of the rib cage that give the illusion of breathing, and capable of responding to sexual stimulation by moving The Pelvis. In New Jersey, the company True Companion markets Roxxxy in websites like xvideos, presented as the first authentic sex robot. “Not a robot, a companion”, specify its designers. Roxxxy isn’t moving on her own yet but she is supposed to be able to talk and interact with her owner thanks to five different “personalities” that can be downloaded. Scandalous?

Progress is so fast that, in South Korea, the Minister of Trade, Industry, and Energy has launched the drafting of a code of ethics intended to regulate and moralize future relationships between people and mechanized creatures. Swedish series “Real Humans”, broadcasted on Arte, describes a society where humans and robots coexist. The latter is so convincing that we come to accept and understand how they can inspire love.

Machines can love humans? Humans can love machines? 

“By 2050, humans will fall in love and marry humanoid robots. We will be able to build machines that will resemble us and reproduce our emotions: it will become almost natural to love them. It’s inevitable”, states David Levy, an expert very well-known in this area.

Scientific and technical discoveries are accelerating at an exponential rate. Miniaturization and artificial intelligence are making tremendous progress. This is what makes many researchers even predict that the first law authorizing marriage between humans and robots will be passed in the United States in Massachusetts, a state still at the forefront of societal and technical innovations.

This might be a controversial point. Indeed, the vast majority of people will always prefer love with humans, but for all those who are lonely, disgraced, sick, shy, or who have a specific attraction to machines, this will be a tremendous step forward. Cognitive psychology experiments have made it possible to identify what favors the state of love: the feeling of closeness, reciprocity, the exchange of stories about childhood, the intimate life, the physical appearance… and we are approaching more and more to a scenario where it is possible to program a humanoid so that it reproduces all these elements. Some people already have an emotional bond with their computer or smartphone, projecting human feelings onto their machine. These links will be all the more intense as the machines take on a human appearance.

Debate, anyway, will be there at every step of this process. It is normal for people to reject all kinds of relationships that are out of what is considered “standard”. It was not that long ago that interracial marriages were illegal in the United States and South Africa. Even a few years ago, same-sex marriage was unthinkable in our society. Today, all of this has become commonplace. So it will be the same with robots. What seems impossible today will become acceptable tomorrow. This surely includes the field of sexuality: psychic resistance to eroticism with androids will disappear, just as resistance to masturbation, for example, has disappeared.

This kind of development will help us even to be more humans than what we are now because we will be obliged to answer transcendental questions that most of the people are neglecting at the current moment. When we have a robot partner lying on our bed, we will have to face the question: what makes our social (and sexual) interactions “human”?

For those convinced of the “new nature” of robots, the outcome is clear: a robot will be able to have sexual capacities and performances much superior to that of a Hamster X. He will not be afraid to commit, will be programmed to be caring and charming. All it takes is for a women’s magazine to report on love affairs with robots for readers to want to try. The advantages will be numerous: no sexually transmitted diseases, no infidelity, no pregnancy… no worries, and that is a big, huge thing.

Obviously, questions arise about our capability to fall in love with robots that will look perfectly like humans. In fact, this is not the first time in history that scientists have tried to find an answer to this question. Already in the 1950s, computer scientist Alan Turing proved that it was possible to communicate with a computer, by keyboard and screen interposed, without realizing that it was a machine. This dynamic is today known as the “imitation game”, a name that inspired the title of a very interesting film about the life of this incredible mathematician. According to Turing, and many experts like him, it is clear that the robot-human difference will be increasingly undetectable. The emergence of humanoids gives rise to fundamental questions about the definition of living things and consciousness. We are only at the very beginning. Maybe one day we will live in an apocalyptical dystopia, surrounded by powerful androids, in a future where software control will be decisive. One could imagine hackers penetrating the “brains” of robots to divert them from their initial functions. This risk should be taken into account. These prospects are dizzying but, in the real world, AI has brought us more pros than cons, at least until now.

Where are we heading now in regards to adult entertainment?

Let’s think, just for a moment, about how the robots could help humanity to improve what it is wrong now. For instance, if we talk about sex and women we will need to seriously speak about human traffic and prostitution, which represent a pandemic even worse than Covid-19. Now let’s imagine for a couple of minutes that we are in 2050 in Amsterdam, the first European city to offer prostitution with robots. Well, this is the main idea of a fiction published in the magazine Futures, by two researchers from New Zealand, both coming from Victoria University in Wellington: Ian Yeoman, a professor specializing in the tourism industry and Michelle Mars, a well-known sexologist. Human-like robots might be a new strategy to fight against human traffic and prostitution in many regions of the world. How many lives would be saved if a robot could sexually replace a woman? Well, maybe will not have to wait to know the answer to that question.

The Autoblow AI is certainly one of the most bizarre inventions of the moment. Is it for this reason that the engineers who developed this sex toy insisted on remaining anonymous? Still, scientists had to watch 109 hours of pornographic films to be able to perfect the functions of Autoblow AI (wait! that’s a real job?! where can we apply?!). This technology is able to reproduce the movements of oral sex (something that, it’s possible to guess, researchers had to try by themselves).

The famous study that led to this amazing invention is called “Blowjob Paper,”. It mainly focuses on a base of algorithms aimed at reproducing the typical movements of oral sex including the positioning of the lips on the penis. The experts even planned sixteen different movements to “vary the pleasures”.

It took researchers three years to design the Autoblow AI (it is still pending to know if they spent most of that time to “test” their invention). As everybody could expect, those involved in adult entertainment have seen a particular interest in this.

Brian Sloan is the one who came up with the idea for Autoblow AI. The expert claimed that he struggled to assemble a team of technicians who would work on a machine that aims to recreate oral sex. Of course, several companies refused to participate in the Blowjob Paper project. However, the scientist still found a group that accepted the mission for $ 30,000.

The researchers, therefore, worked hard to develop methods based on calculations and years of research. Despite the success of the project, the experts insisted on maintaining their anonymity. They simply fear for their reputation.

Even though they wish to remain anonymous, the scientists who developed the Autoblow AI say it is an interesting project. Sex toys are getting more sophisticated and much smarter.

To design this technology, it took a lot of research into this sexual practice, but the result seems to be worth the initial investment.

The experts who made the Autoblow AI work for Dalibor Copic, a company located in Serbia. The firm specializes in adult entertainment since the start-up worked on the competition for the most beautiful vagina in the world, a vagina then used to shape sex products. Her team of experts also developed the Vulva Paper and other similar sex gadgets.

So yes, there are many people out there designing these incredible machines that will let us find a pleasure we never dreamt about. In conclusion, if someday an IA-related apocalypse kills us all, at least we will be able to say that it worthed it.

It is 2020 and the future looks promising for the robotics industry. As robotics becomes mire technologically advanced with its incorporation of more complex aspects of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it has become a useful and indispensable cost-cutting tool for enterprises seeking efficiency in all aspects of their production process. 

According to a McKinsey study in 2019, the market for industrial robotics has increased by double digits since 2012 and is expected to continue like this at least through 2021. The main reasons for this growth are a desire to improve quality, increase productivity while decreasing costs, as well as looking for a safer environment for employees while overcoming the lack of high-skilled workers.

This rising current of integrating robots in companies has a wide span of applications, from medicine, retail and mass production. This is a list of the main trends to expect in 2020 and further.

Logistics and supply chain increase in productivity

The use of robotic technologies implies a simplification of processes in warehouses apart from reducing costs and increasing productivity and quality in the products. 

Companies that do not invest in robotic automation will see a future reduction of opportunities. Since these technologies improve fulfilment and delivery times, it is now expected by the customers to receive their products faster, that is the reason global retailers including Alibaba and Amazon are pioneering by acquiring autonomous vehicles and drones to help streamline the delivery process and mitigate the significant costs of last mile delivery.

Better store operations

On a different front, stores are beginning to use robots in order to help coverage online and offline retail. Inventory has been a major problem for retailers such as Walmart, and usually inaccurate tracking lead to loss in revenue. Robotics in stores helps with cleaning, scanning stock, unloading trucks and managing in-store inventory by constant shelve audits and identifying stock shortage, also with the incorporation of AI they are evolving into powerful allies when it comes to analysing data to improve operations. 

Enhancing customer experience 

Online retail has proven to be a challenge for physical retailers, with an associate loss in costumer visits to local stores and their migration to online platforms, retailers are on a constant search of ways to engage with clients and provide them with a better shopping experience. 

There have been innovations by brands like Loewe, that in 11 of its stores implemented an autonomous robot with an interactive screen to help people with simple questions and navigate to certain items, it is able to assist a request in different languages. This action exemplifies the need to free employee time lost with clients who have simple needs and helps them improve their skills when people need personalised attention. 

Cobots alongside humans

Collaborative robots or Cobots were designed to work alongside humans without safety barriers in between. They have integrated advanced sensors that detect whether there is a human nearby or entering their workspace. Mainly, these types of robots are used for monotonous, tedious, or repetitive duties, leaving employees available for more value-added tasks.

4.0 Industry

This trend is about obtaining a better understanding of industrial operations. With more robots on a factory floor connected by sensors, there is a perfect layout as a result of their data being analysed.

Even though manufacturing is significantly behind industries like healthcare, financial and retail, they are starting to adapt to Industry 4.0, since it represents significant increases in productivity combined with as much as a 30% decrease in maintenance costs. The knowledge robots can provide of the value chain helps maintain a competitive edge in a global market through the power of lean initiatives, downtime reduction, and an investment in equipment efficiency.

Decrease in robot prices

It is evident that with a rising trend in industrial robotics, the demand is growing as well. Smaller, lower-cost robot applications are in high demand. Finally, lower cost of producing robots (e.g., through increasing production in lower-cost regions) leads to decreasing prices (a more than 50% drop in average robotics costs since 1990). 

Also, while labour costs are rising in every country, the return on investment for robots is much greater, thus making them even more attractive. 

Developing standards for uniform operability

Many companies have complained that robots mostly lack a homogeneous programming or interface, it is difficult to program and teach robots new tasks. Basically, each robotic developer has its own standard, also complicating the replacement of parts. 

Higher standardization would facilitate the use of robots from different manufacturers for end users. However, efforts to create a common platform for programming have been limited, even though it is a common restriction for manufacturers to acquire robotic technology. 

Robotics related upskilling and training 

People often wonder about the position for human jobs when robots take over many tasks previously handled by people. It is a worrying trend but there is no stopping it. 

The solution for companies that need to reorganise their corporate organigrams, and for people scared of losing their job, is to invest in training talent with robotics-related capabilities. A recent MGI study, for example, assumes that the total number of jobs related to developing and deploying new technologies, i.e., automation-, IT,  AI, and robotics-related applications, may grow to 20 to 50 million globally by 2030 – and that as many as 375 million workers globally will have to master fresh skills as their current jobs evolve alongside the rise of automation, robotics, AI, and the capable machines thereby enabled. 

Advances in computing power, software development techniques, and networking technologies have made assembling, installing, and maintaining robots faster and less costly than before. These trends, as well as their impact on the growth of the robotics sector, are expected to continue.

Our main source is the McKinsey & Company study, “Industrial robotics: insights into the sector’s future growth dynamics”, published on July 2019, available here.

Since the first technological advancements of humanity, such as the first use of fire or the invention of the first wheel, mankind has been looking for progress. And when we talk about progressing, we mean more effective ways in which a job can be done, with little or no effort. 

In all fields of study, our society has been advancing in order to improve his quality of life. And today is the day in which the areas of medicine and robotics fuse together in order to grant a benefit to patients of all over the world. And this is robotic surgery.

Although it could be insane to think that a robot would operate you, in fact it is not that. It is cutting edge technology in the 21^st century.  Robotic surgery is a surgical procedure in which medical operations can be made using robotic systems.

How the robots are controlled

This method of surgery was created with the intention of using assisted minimally surgeries, instead of the surgeon of manually moving the instruments. In order to control the robot, the surgeon uses a telemanipulator or a computer. 

Generally, we understand a telemanipulator as a remote manipulator that allows the surgeon to perform the movements that are needed for a surgery. In a computer controlled system, the surgeon uses a computer to control the robotic arms, although that system can also use telemanipulators for more advanced inputs. The real advantage of computerized methods is that the surgeon does not have to be present, gaining a great advantage of versatility.

Benefits of using robotic surgery

Heal faster

The first of the benefits we want to mention about robotic surgery is that patients tend to heal much easier than those that do not use it. The machines are so precise that they only need to make modifications of the flesh of the patients in extremely necessary points, making that the patient could improve his condition in less time.

Return to their normal activities faster

It is worthy to keep in mind that most patients that use robot surgery return quicker to their normal activities, making it the ideal choice for those who must improve their health condition as fast as possible in order to continue with their daily routines.

Less painful

And it is not only about healing faster; robotic surgery is also less painful for patients, as its accuracy allows doctors to work without having to make unnecessary movements in the operation process.

Visualization and instrumentation improvements

And of the most important advances in robotic surgery are the improvements in visualization and dexterity of instrumentation. This means that in normal circumstances, doctors have to watch laparoscopic surgeries on 2D, and it has been the rule for many years. But thanks to robotic surgery, this reality changed because the machine can also detect deepness, meaning that surgeries go in 3D – making them way more precise. 

And about instrumentation, it is the ability of a surgeon of being versatile in the places in which he can operate a patient. In this case, we can say that robot surgery has crucial improvements on the field because the controller can make surgeries in spaces that many cannot do with conventional instrumentation. And this is a huge advance over what most doctors can do with open surgery.

Less or little blood loss 

Definitely, the most important advantage of robotic surgery in comparison to the conventional method is that it allows less blood loss in patients on their surgeries. This is a major advantage, because it has been shown that 30% or even 40% of the patients who used robotic surgeries who get blood transfusion after open surgery. In some of the cases their own blood is transfused, and in others they need to use bank blood.

But in the experience of those doctors that use robotic surgery, the transfusion rate after an operation is less than 1%. This has been an amazing data for those who still doubt about those operations, as in the recent studies only 10 patients out of 1200 use blood transfusion. It can be simply considered as a revolution in the area of surgeries. 

For now, robotic surgery can be used in several types of surgery such as heart, thoracic, gastrointestinal, gynecology, bone, spine, transplants, general surgery and urology. But it has not been approved for cancer surgery, as it is unclear to determine if this method is safe in that sort of operations.

Although robotic surgery is a crucial advancement in the fields of medicine, it is right now far to be a standard in the field, mainly because of its expensiveness. The machinery and the robots are also very huge. The surgeons also lose the capacity of touching organs, losing the ability of feeling with their hands the parts they need to operate. Nevertheless, we strongly believe that sooner or later this method for surgery is going to be part of the future.