Editorial
Times of dominion!
Robotics is booming. There is no other way to interpret the figures in the latest World Robotics Report from the International Federation of Robotics, according to which sales have doubled in the last five years.
China's leading position as the country with the highest demand is not surprising. However, as with any interpretation of (growth) figures, the starting point is important. Countries with a traditionally high degree of automation will install far fewer new industrial robots. The fields of application for robots are also changing. This is due to trends and technologies such as human-robot collaboration, artificial intelligence and the growing field of service robotics. All of this will contribute to robots continuing their triumphant advance outside of production and assembly: In the future, they will support people as intelligent and networked machines.
Scientists at the Technical University of Munich are researching how and in what form this could happen at the Munich School of Robotics and Machine Intelligence, or MSRM for short, which was officially opened in October. The cross-faculty integrative research center conducts basic research, teaching and practical work on robotic systems. Central topics are research and teaching on machine intelligence and the interlinked disciplines of robotics and artificial intelligence.
Both robots and AI have a huge impact on society. Both technologies are causing concern and fear. There are already more or less serious discussions about robots replacing humans in industry and thus putting their jobs at risk, about AI taking on a life of its own and usurping control over humans in a similar way to the films "I, Robot" and "Matrix" - the reign of robots?
I'm sure some of you will be smiling and thinking that this is very far-fetched. I agree, but the past has taught us that malaise and fears in society can quickly lead to rejection, whether it is against political and economic decisions or technological progress.
The TU Munich is also aware of the impact of both technologies on society. The MSRM will therefore work closely with the Munich Center for Technology in Society, which has set itself the task of understanding and shaping the diverse interactions between science, technology and society, in order to take these into account when developing new systems.
Because doubts also have something good about them: they lead to discussions and force us to think about things.
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