Human Cyborg Relations

For today’s lesson in the valley, we’ll look at two of the most famous robots of all time. I trust we all know R2-D2 and C-3PO. Just looking at them, we see two very different designs. Artoo looks vaguely like a trash can and Threepio resembles a traditional robot design.

The reason they look so distinct from one another has to do with functionality. According to the Star Wars wiki (aptly titled Wookiee Pedia), Artoo is an astromech droid, a name combining his two primary functions. Astro refers to interstellar navigation, and mech for his ability to operate and repair machinery. He’s essentially a walking tool box, with every gadget he would need built right into his chassis. He has a welding torch, fire extinguisher, grappling arm, holographic display, and a node to interface directly with computers. And since he primarily communicates only with other machines, he speaks through a series of electronic beeps. In short, he is a robot designed to do only what he is intended to do.

Threepio, on the other hand, is designed as an interpreter. His functionality is to translate languages (six million, evidently), and he has a working knowledge of protocol and etiquette. He communicates with living species, and has no need for built in devices, and he is not very mobile, as an interpreter wouldn’t need to be.

But why make him look vaguely human? To make him more comforting, or easier to relate to? He could essentially be a box on wheels and still fulfill his primary function, but he was designed to look human.

R2-D2 is an example of a robot designed to maximize its functionality based on its use. C-3PO is ill-conceived and an example of style over substance.

What I’m trying to get at is why do robots need to look human in the first place? It stands to reason that their main usage would be to perform tasks not easily done by human beings, so why hinder them with a human design?

The uncanny valley tells us that robots that look human while not being perfectly human will always be subject to rejection from our sensibilities, so why strive for this all?

For example, why put the eyes and mouth speaker in the head of the robot, when it seems that putting them in the chest chassis would keep them better protected? Why is their an inherent feeling that the eyes of a robot should be where they are on a human?

Furthermore, the human body isn’t that well designed from an efficiency standpoint. Our optic nerve sits in front of our eye which creates a blind spot. Our knees bend backwards, limiting speed and mobility. We breath and eat through the same tube.

The whole point of designing a robot to mimic a human seems to be an altruistic one. There’s no reason to design a humanoid robot than to simply prove that we can. After all, if we need a robot to perform tasks that the human body is suited for, why build a robot at all? It’s not like we have a shortage of people running around.

Robots should be designed for their primary function, like this bomb defusing robot. It’s simple, does exactly what it needs to, has no extraneous parts, and is most decidedly not human. It is the R2-D2 of our time.

And yet, our scientists are still harboring the dream of a humanoid robot. Perhaps the uncanny valley is inevitable, as man seems to want to create this humanoid robot, but has a hard time accepting it when we do.