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Robots Taught to Deceive by Georgia Tech Engineers

by Warren Riddle on September 12, 2010 at 05:00 PM

Georgia Tech and Robots The inescapable and unstoppable robots from DARPA and Boston Dynamics frequently incite nerdy references to Skynet and the destruction of humanity. But, two groups of university eggheads -- who realistically should know better -- are apparently engaged in a competition to produce the most horrifying, nightmarish robots ever to grace (and eventually destroy) the planet.

One-upping their contemptible counterparts from Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have constructed a bot that not only dupes its competitors, but actively lies, cheats, hides and steals to accomplish its treacherous goals. According to Tech's Ronald Arkin, the group of scientists "developed algorithms that allow a robot to determine whether it should deceive a human or other intelligent machines," while also developing "techniques that help the robot select the best deceptive strategy to reduce its chance of being discovered."

Basically, when being pursued or tracked by an enemy, the running-robot recognizes the threatening situation, sends false signals and forges a trail in one direction before doubling back to hide. During tests, the stealth-bot successfully eluded its tracker 75-percent of the time. While the benefits seem numerous, particularly the potential for dispatching covert communications, Arkin claims to recognize the project's "ethical implications" and "deleterious aspects."

Hopefully, that's not just deceitful PR nonsense, because -- hyperbole and rhetoric aside -- this is terrifying. Seriously. So, enough already with the super-robots. Can someone please develop an anti-gravity, adrenaline-activating 'Superman' pill? Until then, it's probably time to start making some survival plans.

Tags: ai, BostonDynamics, darpa, GeorgiaTech, research, robot, RobotApocalypse, Robots, SocialRobot, top

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