David Letterman has the Top 10 list; Billboard counts down the most popular songs of the week. So we at FringeHog, being compulsive list-makers ourselves, created the FringeHog Friday Five, an almost-regular weekly feature in which we showcase five links (websites, blogs, videos, etc) that offer different perspectives on “the future of” a particular topic.  Some topics are serious; others are things we just think are cool. We like to think of it as a weekly starter-kit to the future.  Enjoy.

FringeHog Friday Five: The Future of Robots

For nearly fifty years, robots have captured our collective imagination.  From Rosie, the arthritic robo-housekeeper in the Jetson’s to Robin William’s emotionally available Bicennential Man to every guy’s favorite cyborg assassin, the media has played to our fascination with all things humanoid.

Yet despite early predictions of a robotic assistant in every home, today the closest you can get to an electronic maid is a stubby vacuum cleaner that bumps into furniture.  But that hasn’t stopped us from pursuing the idea - and the ideal - of perfecting a robot made in man’s image (but with batteries).

Can we make the leap from dust-sucking dials to sentient citizen?  ABI Research predicts that in the next decade people will be willing to spend as much for a multitasking humanoid robot as they would for a new car and that the personal robot market could balloon to $15 billion by 2015.

Most of that growth is happening in the east. There are nearly 950,000 robots in operation worldwide; almost 50% of these are in Asia, a third in Europe, and 16% in North America. Japan is investing upwards of $37 million in the Humanoid Robotics Project (HRP) which aims to bring to market robots that can operate power shovels, assist construction workers and care for the elderly. In South Korea, the robotics industry has grown about 40% a year since 2003; officials are building two robot theme parks at a cost of $1.6 billion as well as developing a robot ethics charter to govern the ethical treatment of robots.  The US, for its part, has a robotics caucus in Congress with um, two members.  You do the math.

But the future of the industry hinges not only how much money is being spent, but how.  Cultural values will play as big a role as the available technology in developing future robots. While the US and Europe have focused on using robots for automotive and military purposes, Asian countries are comfortable - even eager - to adopt robots as an integral part of daily life, opening the door for machines to play an increasingly social role in society.

What role will robots play in business and society? From violin-playing androids to sexbots, this week’s Friday Five takes a look at the future of man’s new best friend.

Love, Sex and, uh, Robots

The title pretty much says it all: in this thought-provoking book author David Levy tackles a ménage à trois of topics: the future of machines, the future of sex, and the future of sex with machines.  In Love and Sex with Robots: The Evolution of Human-Robot Relationships Levy proposes that in the coming decades love with robots will be as normal as with other humans.  Before you roll your eyes at the suggestion of “sexbots”, consider the depth of love - and lust - we have for our cars, iPods and other gadgets. While Levy’s ideas might seem absurd today, considering the revolutionary rate of advances in artificial intelligence, he asks questions that may need to be answered sooner than we think.  

Toyota’s Violin Virtuoso

This charming (yes, charming) video showcases Toyota’s plans to take its expertise with factory robots to new heights via a 5-foot robot playing a flawless rendition of “Pomp and Circumstance” on a violin. Toyota has said it wants to draw on its knowledge and innovation in the field of automobiles to accelerate the development of robots that “make a contribution to society”, aiming to put robots capable of assisting humans into use by the early 2010s. 

Because otherwise, it’s just a naked vacuum

Given our anthropomorphic attachments to our devices, it’s no surprise that MyRoomBud, a company that designs costumes for the Roomba vacuum cleaner, is a hit.  The company sells a range of outfits designed to dress up your Roomba, from lady bugs to leopards to the $10,000 Snowy the Polar Bear outfit.  MyRoomBud’s website boasts that the company was “started by kids, built by kids, and is run by kids” - a generational distinction which also explains why it created SLoomba, a virtual Second Life version of a Roomba.  Welcome to the new Barbie.

Android Science

Last year Hiroshi Ishiguro made headlines when he built a robot twin of himself.  Dubbed “Geminoid HI-1″, the silicon-based replica of the professor is regarded as one of the most realistic humanoid robots ever created.  In this New Scientist interview Ishiguro discusses the benefits of a robotic twin (he can teach classes remotely using his twin and can smoke cigarettes without anyone knowing) and the emerging field of “android science.”  (Note: New Scientist requires registration; this Scientific American article also discusses Ishiguro’s work.)

The Robots Among Us

This article in the San Francisco Chronicle asks the question: if robotics technology now stands where computing did in the ’70s, what can we expect in the future?  While I’m not sure it gets around to answering the question with any degree of imagination, it does provide a good overview of the business and science behind the robotics industry.