Return-Path: From: cgdemarc@ai.mit.edu (Carl de Marcken) Date: Fri, 22 Apr 94 14:18:32 EDT To: all-ai Subject: GSB Friday April 22, 5:00 PM, 7AI. In search of a topic, I peruse my inbox and find that a Daniela Rus gave a seminar recently. I didn't go, missing a free lunch that might have been available. Minor tragedies aside, here is how her abstract read, in part: I will show a video of our robots moving furniture and accomplishing sophisticated cooperative manipulation tasks without explicit communication. Perfect! If I read her correctly, she's pulling AI in exactly the direction it needs to go if it is to survive! Our field was once vibrant, shimmering and colorful, proudly acclaimed by funders and visionaries alike. We had Christmas parties. Local publishers held festivals in our honor, during which they wantonly distributed tasty little chocolates and deposited boxes of wine and champagne in our playroom. I think you can see that things have changed. Why? Because we never produced. We never created a product: a useful, working, material testament to our sweat and genius. But three or four snappy chrome servicemen that a young suburban housewife can call during on the day to spontaneously rearrange her living room, just by yoo-hooing from the door, that would cure our malaise. It could be that I am enthusiastic about Ms. Rus's research because in 7th grade I had a crush on someone named Daniela, but I don't think so; I got over that quickly, and that name was spelled differently. I am honestly fixated on the idea of well-formed mechanical men striding in pairs through the gate of a white picket fence, marching forth ever so confidently on a bright spring day until they stand erect in front of a door with a polished brass knocker that they politely rap with their matte fingers. After brushing their feet on the welcome mat, they bow their heads with a polite "Ma'am" and and wait to be lead to the living room. (Without explicit communication) these friendly automatons will arrange themselves on the corners of a piece of furniture, casually side-stepping the dog (or maybe with a wink extracting a dog biscuit from an internal compartment), and with obvious care will lift each item and deposit it wherever designated. A final "Good day, and may you enjoy the fruits of science", and they're off to serve another. Wouldn't that make you confident in science and America's future? I know I'd sleep better at night. And I can't think of a better advertisement for investment in our work. Perhaps we could devote this G I R L S C O U T B E N E F I T to selecting a clothing scheme for these creations. Myself, I feel that light blue trousers with loose grey or white shirts would be nicer than blazers of the sort worn by Federal Express, but I haven't really come to a conclusion yet. And perhaps "brought to you by the people of AI" could be insigned on their backs. Anyway, it deserves thought.