The era of man-machine *** has quietly arrived

A large number of phenomena prove the fact that the era of human-machine emergence has quietly arrived.

"There is nothing a robot can't do unless it's imaginable. The limitations of your thinking are its only limitations." - the movie "Super Marines 2"

In the movie "Super Marines 2" In "Military Marines 2", the cute and cute robot Baymax has won the hearts of all movie fans. This oversized inflatable robot is actually a medical companion: with a simple scan, Dabai can detect vital indicators and treat almost any disease according to the patient's pain level. To the human Hiro, the caring, innocent Baymax is a hero and his best friend.

In the movie, the relationship between human Hiro and robot Baymax is inseparable.

In today’s real world, the connection between humans and robots has become increasingly close: the sweeping robot at home can flexibly roam around the rooms, avoid various obstacles, and complete the cleaning task perfectly; AlphaGo passes Continuously learn and evolve on its own, becoming the first artificial intelligence robot to defeat human professional Go players and the world Go champion; humans can write 26 English letters with their thoughts through the brain-computer interface, with an accuracy of nearly 99%...

These phenomena all prove the fact that the era of human-machine warfare has quietly arrived.

Scientists believe that human-machine creation is the best way for humans to use AI in the future. Humans and machines each have their own strengths and complement each other. Just like at work, a large number of repetitive tasks can be completed by robots, while humans only need to complete more valuable tasks.

Imagine that a robot butler cooks for us, a robot teacher helps our children with homework, a robot doctor performs surgery on us, and a brain-computer interface allows us to input information in the most efficient way... I feel that I am a bit imaginative. ?

But in fact, mankind’s long-term research on robots has made all preparations for us to enter the era of human-machine emergence.

Robots, a new species created by humans

In 1959, the American Joseph Engelberg, known as the "Father of Robots", built the world's first industrial robot. Robot Unimate. Unimate can rely on computer-controlled arms to perform corresponding movements under hydraulic drive, with accuracy controlled within 1/10,000 of an inch.

In 1961, the industrial robot Unimate was first installed and run on the General Motors production line. It could use a 4,000-pound robotic arm to stack hot die-cast metal parts in sequence.

In the following decades, the continuous innovation and breakthroughs in robot functions far exceeded human beings' initial imagination of it.

In 1966, Shakey, developed by the Stanford University Artificial Intelligence Research Center, was the world's first intelligent robot. It was equipped with a visual sensor and could discover and grab building blocks according to human instructions.

In 1995, at the World Conference on Robot Applications, a robot performed surgery on a human for the first time. A super-professional medical robot used a silver needle to penetrate the body of a patient under general anesthesia under instructions, and perfectly completed the prostate biopsy extraction operation.

Now, in the era of artificial intelligence, the development of robots is changing with each passing day.

In the past, industrial robots emphasized automation and completed precise control, pre-programming and a series of repetitive actions in a known environment. Today's AI robots are able to learn and perform tasks on their own in uncertain environments. Adaptive and self-evolving autonomous robots.

In 2020, Jamoca, the first quadruped robot in China that can complete the complex challenge of walking plum blossom piles, was created by Tencent Robotics

Then, on March 2, 2021, Tencent Robotics , has legs and wheels. Not only does he have the specialty of "walking steadily on rough roads, but running fast on flat roads", he can stand on both legs to "ask for red envelopes", and he can also do difficult moves such as backflips.

Multi-modal quadruped robot dog Max

It was Dr. Zhang Zhengyou and the Tencent Robotics X team led by him who created Jamoca and Max.

Dedicated Artificial Intelligence Research

Dr. Zhang Zhengyou has devoted more than thirty years of effort in the field of artificial intelligence research. As the head of Tencent Robotics X Lab and AI Lab, he is also a world-renowned expert in computer vision and multimedia technology.

While studying at Zhejiang University, his department chair, Mr. Gu Weikang, suggested that he choose the direction of artificial intelligence.

At that time, artificial intelligence was still a very emerging field and its future was unknown. However, under the guidance of his teacher, Zhang Zhengyou saw the huge prospects contained in it and the profound impact it may have on future social development. So, he embarked on this path without hesitation.

After graduating from university, Zhang Zhengyou went to Paris alone and became a doctoral student at the French National Institute of Computer Automation (INRIA). He studied under Olivier Faugeras, an academician of the French Academy of Sciences, and studied three-dimensional computer vision and its application in mobile robots. application, and participated in the development of the world's first mobile robot using stereoscopic vision navigation. There he met a person who had a profound influence on him - Thomas S. Huang (Huang Xutao), a great master of Chinese vision. At that time, Mr. Huang Xutao was already the top expert in the fields of computer vision and signal processing, while Zhang Zhengyou had just started studying for a Ph.D. less than a year ago. Mr. Huang Xutao is approachable, wise and elegant. Although he is a great person, he is always willing to help others. Therefore, during his Ph.D. studies, Zhang Zhengyou asked Mr. Huang Xutao for advice and academic issues from time to time, and received his guidance and selfless support.

Dr. Zhang Zhengyou said frankly that he was inspired by Mr. Huang Xutao’s paper. Based on these basic principles, he applied them to uncalibrated cameras, developed automatic image matching technology, and invented New algorithm for camera calibration.

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In 2005, Zhang Zhengyou was elected as an IEEE Fellow. At the ICCV 2005 dinner held in Beijing, Mr. Huang Xutao came in person to present him with the award. Dr. Zhang Zhengyou was very happy: "There is really no more suitable person to award the award than him!"

"Zhang's calibration method", from the laboratory to the real world

In 1998, Zhang Zhengyou The doctor proposed a new camera calibration method, which everyone later called "Zhang's calibration method." Now it has been widely used in three-dimensional vision, robots, and autonomous driving around the world, and has also won the IEEE Helmholtz Time Test Award.

This method is between the photographic calibration method and the self-calibration method. The traditional camera calibration method requires a specific calibration reference object to process the image. Although the self-calibration method does not rely on the calibration reference object, it has the problems of low efficiency and long time consumption. "Zhang's calibration method" only needs to use a printed checkerboard and take several sets of pictures from different directions. Anyone can make the calibration pattern by himself. It is not only practical, flexible and convenient, but also has high precision and the stability of the system is also good. Very strong. "Zhang's calibration method" was quickly adopted worldwide, greatly promoting the process of 3D computer vision from the laboratory to the real world.

Committed to more autonomous next-generation robot research

Because of his persistence and enthusiasm for the field of robotics, Dr. Zhang Zhengyou officially joined Tencent on March 13, 2018, and led the creation of the robot Laboratory Robotics The Robotics

After extensive research, the Robotics Computer interaction, medical assistance. These trends all point in the same direction—more autonomous robots. The industrial robot that people used to know was more of an automated machine that would perform repetitive movements after being programmed in advance. Nowadays, robots are slowly beginning to develop in the direction of autonomy. The purpose of autonomy is to enable robots to make independent decisions on what they need to do in a dynamic environment with great uncertainty.

Speaking of the development of the next generation of robots, Dr. Zhang Zhengyou has such a vision: “We hope to combine our robotics technology with artificial intelligence to continuously achieve technological breakthroughs and apply these new technologies to human beings in the future. In life, it will benefit human society to some extent." Dr. Zhang Zhengyou also set a long-term goal for the next generation of robots. He said: "We have built a lot of things for this, and we will do it slowly and step by step in the future. Push forward towards this dream.”

Using robots to lead the power of technology for good

In the future, will robots become good helpers for mankind and seek benefits for mankind? Or will it one day rise above mankind and even rule the entire earth, as described in "Westworld"?

There has been endless debate in the scientific community about this issue.

In 1942, the American science fiction master Asimov proposed the famous three laws of robots in his science fiction novel "Robot Series", intending to implant these rules into the bottom layer of robot software so that robots can Be kind to people in the future instead of being our enemies. With the development of technology, the problems that people are worried about seem to be imminent.

When artificial intelligence reaches the technological singularity and completely leaves humans behind, will there still be room for humans to survive freely?

In this regard, Dr. Zhang Zhengyou’s answer is: Robots and humans must survive, survive, and win in the future. This is also the original intention of Dr. Zhang Zhengyou to return to China to establish Tencent Robotics X Robotics Laboratory.

As a very optimistic technologist, Dr. Zhang Zhengyou said that the ultimate ideal state of robots is to become human beings’ guardian angels. Robots can interact and integrate with humans in all aspects, and should be integrated with intelligent environments and the cloud. Only by treating these as the same whole can humans be protected. Robots should be able to make people live better and live better lives.

As Zhang Zhengyou said: "The ultimate goal of future robot development must be people. In other words, all progress is for better interaction between machines and people, and ultimately better Serve people.

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Source: Global Science (huanqiukexue.com)