ZZZ online | Number 65 Many expect the coming age of robotics to provide us with super-intelligent, sentient robots, capable of making our beds and mixing our drinks. Others, such as Mark Tilden and Solarbotics, believe that such an age will never come, and instead work to simplify the production and function of robots.
Tilden’s designs use no computers and only a small amount of electronics. These minimalist robots rely on solar power to keep them moving. Any “intelligence” these robots develop is gained from interacting with the world around them, rather than analyzing and mapping it. The idea of creating these robots is to mimic the behaviour and learning patterns of wild animals, through a process known as evolutionary biology. AI intelligence has so far lacked the basic animal instinct needed to survive outside a laboratory, because they can’t adapt to an unprogrammed world.