ROBOT GROWING UP

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 194, 3 June 1929, Page 8

ROBOT GROWING UP

repertoire increased

During recent months the mechanical man has been increasing his repertoire (says the “Christian. Science Monitor,” Boston). A short time ago he appeared in the role of a superhousekeeper. He turned on the electric stove, operated a vacuum cleaner, and blew a whistle when the three-minute wero dom*. •Gr&duH.ting froni liis domestic duties, he now serves as a doorman who counts the guests as they arrive, a watchman, a traffic policeman, or a fireman. In the last capacity he not only sounds the alarm, but actually points out the blaze. On the lecture platform the robot appears, quite manlike in form. Especially is this true of Eric, the English gentleman, who looks like a suit of medieval armour suddenly resurrected. Televox, who grew up and learned his tricks in the Westinghouse laboratory, will even talk, while his arms and legs respond, (instantly to the proper bidding. Off- ' stage they appear in a different guise, iln his -“working clothes” Televox is no more imposing than, an ordinary radio set. Iron Mike, who steers a ship at sea with greater accuracy than any helmsman who ever stood a watch at the wheel, is disclosed as a, glorified gyroscope. Thus one perceives that the business of dressing up machinery to resemble men is merely the inventors’ little joke. The important thing is the constantly increasisg range of tbe tasks which this “selective purpose” machinery is capable of accomplishing. The man in need of a shave may scoff at the idea of entrusting his whiskers to a mechanical barber, even though he knows that the robot will not talk. But it brings an entirely different appreciation of progress in this field to see the British battleship Centurion sailing an intricate zig-zag course with its band playing all tbe while, although there Is not a single person on board. The robot of the sea is controlled by radio by vessels several miles distant. In many cities a mechanical “hello-gii'l” is at the beck and call of telephone subscribers. The country is rapidly becoming familiar with the dial apparatus which, with a few quick turns, selects the .desired number from the thousands listed in the directory. Telephone engineers declare that the new system has practically eliminated the phrase “wrong number” from central’s vocabulary. So the robot is learning to tell ripe oranges from green ones, to put white beans in one pile and black beans in another, to operate electric sub-sta-tions, to watch the water-level in reservoirs, and to pilot aeroplanes. Eric and Televox were never intended, even by their inventors, really to replace men. But they hope to lift an increasing amount of the detail and drudgery from human tasks and thus release men for endeavours of greater scope and originality.