Read the passage below and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.
The notion of robots has been around for many years, some of the most famous being R2-D2 (Star Wars), Deep Blue (IBM’s chess-playing bot), and Data (Star Trek). In recent years working robots have made the transition from science fiction to reality, making their entrance into society and the workplace in rapid fashion. Robots are already popular in the manufacturing sector and have become a key innovation for analyzing “big data.” In a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum, the mass adoption of robots is being called the “fourth industrial revolution,” involving technologies—such as avatars, mobile sensors, smart agents, and artificial intelligence—that are “blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres” (Kharpal, 2016).
But what if real robots became more like R2-D2, Deep Blue, and Data, performing more interactive tasks and holding leadership roles? The idea might not be that far-fetched. According to Melonee Wise of Fetch Robotics, robots have great potential to become more collaborative and social, performing tasks that only humans could do before (Fitzpatrick, 2016). Robots can already teach foreign languages to children, and some have become counselors. The next step in robotic evolution might just be a robot’s capacity to demonstrate leadership qualities. It is important to remember that humans are not unique in their leadership skills: insects such as ants and honeybees have long been known for active leadership among their colonies and swarms, and animals including fish (sticklebacks), macaques, and spider monkeys exert notable leadership qualities among their groups (Pugliese, Acerbi, & Marocco, 2015). If insects, animals, and humans develop and demonstrate leadership skills, why not robots? In studies of small groups of similar robots, robots have been found to demonstrate leadership qualities and, over time, some emerge as leaders. The findings suggest that, like strong human leadership, robot leadership increases the “overall fitness of the group” (Pugliese, Acerbi, & Marocco, 2015).
How will humans adapt to robots as they become woven into the normal fabric of life? Initial research indicates that humans are still uncertain about interacting with robots and feel that bots will not deliver the same level of social presence as humans would (Spence, Westerman, Edwards, & Edwards, 2014). A key step going forward appears to be normalizing robot communication in the general population, much in the way other technologies have been normalized, such as smart watches and self-driving cars.