full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ayanna Howard: Make robots smarter


Unscramble the Blue Letters


So how many of you have a robot at home? OK, I see about 20, 30 hands. That's actually pretty good. How many of you would want your own personal robot at home? I know I would! OK, so why doesn't this exist? Why can't I go to the convenience store or the department srote and, you know, go up to the cashier and say, "Yeah, I want my personal robot"? Well, I'm going to talk to you about how to make that happen. The thing that we need to do is to make robots smarter. Now, no one will argue that we don't have robots. We have rovers that are going to Mars and are getting sniccee data and expanding our understanding of the world. We have manufacturing robots that are helping to build our cars that we drive today. We even have robots that are helping our military, that are out disposing of bmbos so our soldiers can come home safely. So we have all this, so why don't we have the personal robot? Why don't I have my robot chef? Because I can't cook. (Laughter) So, here's one of my robots, this is a simple walking robot, but it is by no means smart. And so, what we need to do is we need to change the definition of what a robot is. How do we do that? Well, the first step, before we even srtat designing and getting our hands dirty, we have to come up with rules, kind of the laws, rules of conduct. And why is this? Because if these robots are smart, they might be capable of more than we want. And so we have to come up with rules. Thou, roobt, shall not harm a human. Thou shall obey me, and only me. Thou shall always ptoecrt me at all possible times. So we have to lay the boundaries, the rules of engagement, before we actually start designing. And then we have to come up with tools. So I believe that the way to make robots smarter is to mimic polpee. Now, our banris are complex, there's a lot going on in there, and so, it'd be hard to try to open up the brain and actually figure out how to mimic humans. The best way is to observe, is to actually watch people do things, and figure out what are they doing, what are their thoughts, what are their actions, what are their emotions? And so, part of maikng robots smarter is actually trying to mimic humans, miimc how we do things, so maybe they can do it a little bit better. And so, some of the tools are varied. And so, I'm classically trained as an electrical eenniegr. I never thought I'd have to understand things like child psychology, infant donmpeelevt. So, understanding that the way infants deoevlp to children, develop to adults, and how they learn and interact is actually important for robotics. I didn't untednrsad that I'd actually have to wacth tapes of monkeys interacting and communicating, because they have a whole saicol kind of mechanism where they learn from each other, and so that's really good to make robots smarter. And, of course, neuroscience, I've always been fsenaactid with nruoicesnece, but I never uorndstoed that I had to figure out why do the neurons fire, what about the environment helps us to learn, and all of those really contribute to making rotobs a little bit smarter. And so, some of the things that I do — and this is just a little snapshot — one of the things is mirionrrg. So they say our albitiy to look in a mirror and wave and actually recognize that the person on the other side is us, that self-awareness, is a sign of intelligence, and that allows us to then look at someone picth a ball and frguie out, "OK, I know how to pitch a ball, I'm going to mirror their improvement." And so I actually have a robot where we are trying to degsin a robot health coach. And so, I have an exercise physiologist sihwnog the robot how to do some eeiserxcs. You know, we want to get strong. And then, the other thing is learning. So, learning is imptonart. We do this as crihlden, we do this even as adults, we do this as elder. And yet, one form of learning is muscle memory. So how many of you play an instrument? OK, so when you start off, for example, if you think about the violin, you start off and your itnoscturr might actually come and move your hand a little bit or maybe move your bow a little bit up. So they actually touch you in order to give you muscle memory. And that helps you understand how to do things a little better. And so we actually have a learning methodology where of course, we're not going to take the motors and move the legs, and so we have to Nunchuk to give our robot muscle memory in terms of how to do dance moves. And then, lastly, is creitviaty. So, you might ask, "Robots? Creativity? I don't get this. Why does the robot have to be creative? What about creativity makes them smarter?" Well, creativity and imagination, those are the things that allow us to create problems when we don't know how to actatk it. They allow us to make something out of nothing. I mean, if you look at the apps that at out there and the tletbas, and the iPads, and the iPhones, and the Androids — 20 yaers ago they didn't exist. So, how is it that we got from something where there was nothing and expanded? It was our imagination. It was our creativity. And these are the things that allow us to figure out new things. And so, I have a robot that is creative, it plays pinao, is a composer, and if you listen, it plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." (Music) So, all of this together, the last thing is interaction. So, you have a robot, you want it to be your playmate, your teacher, your instructor, you want it to interact. And isn't it so cute? (Laughter) So, interaction is key, it is key to unnstniaeddrg how to work in our world with us, and so the interaction piece is very important. It deals with communication, it deals with understanding, it deals with gaze, it deals with attention. All of these things together allow that irtceoaintn and our robots to be smart. And so these are just some of the tools that we use in order to make robots saetmrr. So, I want to leave you with one thought. So, I'm all for robots and srmat robots. I mean, that's what I do, I'd be out of a job if I didn't believe in that. But yet, where does it end? How far do we push it? How far and how smart should we make our smart robots? Thank you. (apuspale)

Open Cloze


So how many of you have a robot at home? OK, I see about 20, 30 hands. That's actually pretty good. How many of you would want your own personal robot at home? I know I would! OK, so why doesn't this exist? Why can't I go to the convenience store or the department _____ and, you know, go up to the cashier and say, "Yeah, I want my personal robot"? Well, I'm going to talk to you about how to make that happen. The thing that we need to do is to make robots smarter. Now, no one will argue that we don't have robots. We have rovers that are going to Mars and are getting _______ data and expanding our understanding of the world. We have manufacturing robots that are helping to build our cars that we drive today. We even have robots that are helping our military, that are out disposing of _____ so our soldiers can come home safely. So we have all this, so why don't we have the personal robot? Why don't I have my robot chef? Because I can't cook. (Laughter) So, here's one of my robots, this is a simple walking robot, but it is by no means smart. And so, what we need to do is we need to change the definition of what a robot is. How do we do that? Well, the first step, before we even _____ designing and getting our hands dirty, we have to come up with rules, kind of the laws, rules of conduct. And why is this? Because if these robots are smart, they might be capable of more than we want. And so we have to come up with rules. Thou, _____, shall not harm a human. Thou shall obey me, and only me. Thou shall always _______ me at all possible times. So we have to lay the boundaries, the rules of engagement, before we actually start designing. And then we have to come up with tools. So I believe that the way to make robots smarter is to mimic ______. Now, our ______ are complex, there's a lot going on in there, and so, it'd be hard to try to open up the brain and actually figure out how to mimic humans. The best way is to observe, is to actually watch people do things, and figure out what are they doing, what are their thoughts, what are their actions, what are their emotions? And so, part of ______ robots smarter is actually trying to mimic humans, _____ how we do things, so maybe they can do it a little bit better. And so, some of the tools are varied. And so, I'm classically trained as an electrical ________. I never thought I'd have to understand things like child psychology, infant ___________. So, understanding that the way infants _______ to children, develop to adults, and how they learn and interact is actually important for robotics. I didn't __________ that I'd actually have to _____ tapes of monkeys interacting and communicating, because they have a whole ______ kind of mechanism where they learn from each other, and so that's really good to make robots smarter. And, of course, neuroscience, I've always been __________ with ____________, but I never __________ that I had to figure out why do the neurons fire, what about the environment helps us to learn, and all of those really contribute to making ______ a little bit smarter. And so, some of the things that I do — and this is just a little snapshot — one of the things is _________. So they say our _______ to look in a mirror and wave and actually recognize that the person on the other side is us, that self-awareness, is a sign of intelligence, and that allows us to then look at someone _____ a ball and ______ out, "OK, I know how to pitch a ball, I'm going to mirror their improvement." And so I actually have a robot where we are trying to ______ a robot health coach. And so, I have an exercise physiologist _______ the robot how to do some _________. You know, we want to get strong. And then, the other thing is learning. So, learning is _________. We do this as ________, we do this even as adults, we do this as elder. And yet, one form of learning is muscle memory. So how many of you play an instrument? OK, so when you start off, for example, if you think about the violin, you start off and your __________ might actually come and move your hand a little bit or maybe move your bow a little bit up. So they actually touch you in order to give you muscle memory. And that helps you understand how to do things a little better. And so we actually have a learning methodology where of course, we're not going to take the motors and move the legs, and so we have to Nunchuk to give our robot muscle memory in terms of how to do dance moves. And then, lastly, is __________. So, you might ask, "Robots? Creativity? I don't get this. Why does the robot have to be creative? What about creativity makes them smarter?" Well, creativity and imagination, those are the things that allow us to create problems when we don't know how to ______ it. They allow us to make something out of nothing. I mean, if you look at the apps that at out there and the _______, and the iPads, and the iPhones, and the Androids — 20 _____ ago they didn't exist. So, how is it that we got from something where there was nothing and expanded? It was our imagination. It was our creativity. And these are the things that allow us to figure out new things. And so, I have a robot that is creative, it plays _____, is a composer, and if you listen, it plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." (Music) So, all of this together, the last thing is interaction. So, you have a robot, you want it to be your playmate, your teacher, your instructor, you want it to interact. And isn't it so cute? (Laughter) So, interaction is key, it is key to _____________ how to work in our world with us, and so the interaction piece is very important. It deals with communication, it deals with understanding, it deals with gaze, it deals with attention. All of these things together allow that ___________ and our robots to be smart. And so these are just some of the tools that we use in order to make robots _______. So, I want to leave you with one thought. So, I'm all for robots and _____ robots. I mean, that's what I do, I'd be out of a job if I didn't believe in that. But yet, where does it end? How far do we push it? How far and how smart should we make our smart robots? Thank you. (________)

Solution


  1. bombs
  2. robots
  3. people
  4. interaction
  5. store
  6. creativity
  7. years
  8. exercises
  9. children
  10. understanding
  11. mirroring
  12. making
  13. ability
  14. social
  15. fascinated
  16. understood
  17. science
  18. understand
  19. protect
  20. important
  21. piano
  22. brains
  23. instructor
  24. mimic
  25. figure
  26. tablets
  27. develop
  28. smarter
  29. development
  30. robot
  31. watch
  32. design
  33. showing
  34. smart
  35. start
  36. engineer
  37. attack
  38. neuroscience
  39. pitch
  40. applause

Original Text


So how many of you have a robot at home? OK, I see about 20, 30 hands. That's actually pretty good. How many of you would want your own personal robot at home? I know I would! OK, so why doesn't this exist? Why can't I go to the convenience store or the department store and, you know, go up to the cashier and say, "Yeah, I want my personal robot"? Well, I'm going to talk to you about how to make that happen. The thing that we need to do is to make robots smarter. Now, no one will argue that we don't have robots. We have rovers that are going to Mars and are getting science data and expanding our understanding of the world. We have manufacturing robots that are helping to build our cars that we drive today. We even have robots that are helping our military, that are out disposing of bombs so our soldiers can come home safely. So we have all this, so why don't we have the personal robot? Why don't I have my robot chef? Because I can't cook. (Laughter) So, here's one of my robots, this is a simple walking robot, but it is by no means smart. And so, what we need to do is we need to change the definition of what a robot is. How do we do that? Well, the first step, before we even start designing and getting our hands dirty, we have to come up with rules, kind of the laws, rules of conduct. And why is this? Because if these robots are smart, they might be capable of more than we want. And so we have to come up with rules. Thou, robot, shall not harm a human. Thou shall obey me, and only me. Thou shall always protect me at all possible times. So we have to lay the boundaries, the rules of engagement, before we actually start designing. And then we have to come up with tools. So I believe that the way to make robots smarter is to mimic people. Now, our brains are complex, there's a lot going on in there, and so, it'd be hard to try to open up the brain and actually figure out how to mimic humans. The best way is to observe, is to actually watch people do things, and figure out what are they doing, what are their thoughts, what are their actions, what are their emotions? And so, part of making robots smarter is actually trying to mimic humans, mimic how we do things, so maybe they can do it a little bit better. And so, some of the tools are varied. And so, I'm classically trained as an electrical engineer. I never thought I'd have to understand things like child psychology, infant development. So, understanding that the way infants develop to children, develop to adults, and how they learn and interact is actually important for robotics. I didn't understand that I'd actually have to watch tapes of monkeys interacting and communicating, because they have a whole social kind of mechanism where they learn from each other, and so that's really good to make robots smarter. And, of course, neuroscience, I've always been fascinated with neuroscience, but I never understood that I had to figure out why do the neurons fire, what about the environment helps us to learn, and all of those really contribute to making robots a little bit smarter. And so, some of the things that I do — and this is just a little snapshot — one of the things is mirroring. So they say our ability to look in a mirror and wave and actually recognize that the person on the other side is us, that self-awareness, is a sign of intelligence, and that allows us to then look at someone pitch a ball and figure out, "OK, I know how to pitch a ball, I'm going to mirror their improvement." And so I actually have a robot where we are trying to design a robot health coach. And so, I have an exercise physiologist showing the robot how to do some exercises. You know, we want to get strong. And then, the other thing is learning. So, learning is important. We do this as children, we do this even as adults, we do this as elder. And yet, one form of learning is muscle memory. So how many of you play an instrument? OK, so when you start off, for example, if you think about the violin, you start off and your instructor might actually come and move your hand a little bit or maybe move your bow a little bit up. So they actually touch you in order to give you muscle memory. And that helps you understand how to do things a little better. And so we actually have a learning methodology where of course, we're not going to take the motors and move the legs, and so we have to Nunchuk to give our robot muscle memory in terms of how to do dance moves. And then, lastly, is creativity. So, you might ask, "Robots? Creativity? I don't get this. Why does the robot have to be creative? What about creativity makes them smarter?" Well, creativity and imagination, those are the things that allow us to create problems when we don't know how to attack it. They allow us to make something out of nothing. I mean, if you look at the apps that at out there and the tablets, and the iPads, and the iPhones, and the Androids — 20 years ago they didn't exist. So, how is it that we got from something where there was nothing and expanded? It was our imagination. It was our creativity. And these are the things that allow us to figure out new things. And so, I have a robot that is creative, it plays piano, is a composer, and if you listen, it plays "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." (Music) So, all of this together, the last thing is interaction. So, you have a robot, you want it to be your playmate, your teacher, your instructor, you want it to interact. And isn't it so cute? (Laughter) So, interaction is key, it is key to understanding how to work in our world with us, and so the interaction piece is very important. It deals with communication, it deals with understanding, it deals with gaze, it deals with attention. All of these things together allow that interaction and our robots to be smart. And so these are just some of the tools that we use in order to make robots smarter. So, I want to leave you with one thought. So, I'm all for robots and smart robots. I mean, that's what I do, I'd be out of a job if I didn't believe in that. But yet, where does it end? How far do we push it? How far and how smart should we make our smart robots? Thank you. (Applause)

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
robots smarter 5
muscle memory 3
start designing 2
making robots 2



Important Words


  1. ability
  2. actions
  3. adults
  4. androids
  5. applause
  6. apps
  7. argue
  8. attack
  9. attention
  10. ball
  11. bit
  12. bombs
  13. boundaries
  14. bow
  15. brain
  16. brains
  17. build
  18. capable
  19. cars
  20. cashier
  21. change
  22. chef
  23. child
  24. children
  25. classically
  26. coach
  27. communicating
  28. communication
  29. complex
  30. composer
  31. conduct
  32. contribute
  33. convenience
  34. cook
  35. create
  36. creative
  37. creativity
  38. cute
  39. dance
  40. data
  41. deals
  42. definition
  43. department
  44. design
  45. designing
  46. develop
  47. development
  48. dirty
  49. disposing
  50. drive
  51. elder
  52. electrical
  53. emotions
  54. engagement
  55. engineer
  56. environment
  57. exercise
  58. exercises
  59. exist
  60. expanded
  61. expanding
  62. fascinated
  63. figure
  64. fire
  65. form
  66. gaze
  67. give
  68. good
  69. hand
  70. hands
  71. happen
  72. hard
  73. harm
  74. health
  75. helping
  76. helps
  77. home
  78. human
  79. humans
  80. imagination
  81. important
  82. improvement
  83. infant
  84. infants
  85. instructor
  86. instrument
  87. intelligence
  88. interact
  89. interacting
  90. interaction
  91. ipads
  92. iphones
  93. job
  94. key
  95. kind
  96. lastly
  97. laughter
  98. laws
  99. lay
  100. learn
  101. learning
  102. leave
  103. legs
  104. listen
  105. lot
  106. making
  107. manufacturing
  108. mars
  109. means
  110. mechanism
  111. memory
  112. methodology
  113. military
  114. mimic
  115. mirror
  116. mirroring
  117. monkeys
  118. motors
  119. move
  120. moves
  121. muscle
  122. music
  123. neurons
  124. neuroscience
  125. nunchuk
  126. obey
  127. observe
  128. open
  129. order
  130. part
  131. people
  132. person
  133. personal
  134. physiologist
  135. piano
  136. piece
  137. pitch
  138. play
  139. playmate
  140. plays
  141. pretty
  142. problems
  143. protect
  144. psychology
  145. push
  146. recognize
  147. robot
  148. robotics
  149. robots
  150. rovers
  151. rules
  152. safely
  153. science
  154. showing
  155. side
  156. sign
  157. simple
  158. smart
  159. smarter
  160. snapshot
  161. social
  162. soldiers
  163. star
  164. start
  165. step
  166. store
  167. strong
  168. tablets
  169. talk
  170. tapes
  171. teacher
  172. terms
  173. thou
  174. thought
  175. thoughts
  176. times
  177. today
  178. tools
  179. touch
  180. trained
  181. twinkle
  182. understand
  183. understanding
  184. understood
  185. varied
  186. violin
  187. walking
  188. watch
  189. wave
  190. work
  191. world
  192. years