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Final Draft Military Robots

As our simple world is evolving and becoming more in touch with technology our military forces have also taken technology to their advantage. Our wars and rivalries have caused many gruesome effects on both soldiers and families of our soldiers. Robots becoming part of military force are such an effective decision with reasons like reducing government costs, decreasing deaths of soldiers, using heavy machinery more adequately and helping our forces locate and defuse bomb and foreign objects. With robots coming into play so much more in our lives they have brought some far more humane and successful advantages into our military.

Today’s military robots are so sophisticated and advanced with technology for specific operations. The most popular classes of military robots are UGVs (unmanned ground vehicle), UUVs (unmanned underwater vehicle), and UAVs (unmanned aircraft vehicles). UGVS are very small and can be easily accessed by a soldier whether they carry it or can put it in their backpack. These UGVs are equipped with a GPS, electronic compass and temperature sensors. They can move up to 8 mph and can crawl upstairs and are able to be flipped over, this small robot can let off 400 gs of force. Getting into the UUVs they are used more for surveillance and reconnaissance. Mainly used for shoreline reconnaissance for high risk or unsuitable condition for human soldiers to face. UUVs are extremely handy by being able to carry a wide variety of payloads such as images, environmental sensors or even mine counter measures. These intelligent robots can move through rubble and even snow, they are used for ground attacks like armored tanks. Now UAVs are more like drones. They are not necessarily a weapon themselves but they are able to carry weapons. They act as small airplanes and are easy to go unseen in risky situations.

Creating these complex sophisticated robot we are creating a world at which some soldiers may never even have to face their enemies. These robots are designed to be used for surveillance, ground attacks, defusing and locating bombs, shooting missiles off navy seal boats at oncoming enemies and so much more. They are not only improving the accuracy of firearms and missiles but also decreasing the amount of human lives lost cause of close contact with these explosives and predators. Some of these robots are even designed to relocate injured troops to base for medical attention. Although people fear they are taking over jobs and human roles they are also helping save lives and protect against our enemies.

Knowing only a few different models of military robots they already have so many positive effects and are capable of so many different tasks necessary for the military. Day after day troops are getting shipped out to do very risky and sometimes almost suicidal missions with families and friends at home praying they live to see another day. With robots coming into play it decreases the need for our human soldiers to go out into those life threatening situations. Now I’m not saying humans will be totally eliminated from our military force, because as much as robots can do good they are still not capable of every man made task needed to be performed. Now having the advantaged of using a robot to do a brutal tasks that they may get destroyed is more reassuring then loosing a life of a soldier. These robots don’t have feelings and families they have to think and worry about which makes them a great fit for the military. Being able to send out a robot where they are fearless of what might happen helps improve chances the mission will get completed.

As we know our soldiers face many heartbreaking and unlively experiences through their timed served. A lot of former soldiers have effects of PTSD ( posttraumatic stress disorder) due to the severe trauma they have had to endure. With that comes many phycological and emotional issues they have to try to cope with when they are sent back home to their families. Some former soldiers can not be in large crowds of people or even around loud noises without having panic attacks. In contrast to human causalities robots don’t fear death nor do they have to try to cope with traumatizing flashbacks. These facts help include why using robots in our military would be a successful decision.

“Drones are cheap, soldiers are not”. Having such a high amount of soldiers in our military force has become very costly on our government and supplying heavy powered machinery to each troop is a lot of money out of pocket, especially when the rate of soldiers keeps growing. “For example, each US solider deployed in Afghanistan in 2012 cost the government US$2.1million”. Being a soldier with greater risk of survival means long-term support for veterans, covering loss of limbs, severe trauma rehabilitation, etc.. “A typical “polytrauma”, where a soldier has experienced multiple traumatic injuries, has a calculated annual health care cost of US$136,000”. Robots are machines and do not come with the extra concerns of death or trauma or even medical bills. Extra expenses such as medical support and treatment for former soldiers can build up to be major expenses that the government is signed up to cover. Though robots will not be taking over as soldiers they will definitely help decrease those extreme expenses by lowering the amount of injuries and death caused at wars.

I feel very strongly about the use for robots in our military force. It creates a safer outlook for our troops and helps ease the unknown factor of what they are about to face, by using cameras and sensors to show what is ahead of them. Not only are they helping these men defuse bombs and returning with important material, some robots are even sturdy and intelligent enough to return injured troops to their base to get the medical attention when needed. Robots aren’t only helping save lives but they are also saving a lot of money. Most robots have significant range when firing shots and also a huge payload limit for our government. Needless to say military robots would make a major positive impact on our country.

Portfolio Cover Letter

Dear Portfolio Committee,

Coming into this class as my first year in college English I was overwhelmed with what to expect, thinking about how next level the college world would be was a little scary, to say the least. Being part of this course has actually helped me realize what I lacked in my writing and the amount of detail I needed to support my story and creating a writing that grasps the attention of your audience. Bringing robots into the mix of writing was very interesting to me. It brought me to realize how much we actually interfere with robots in our everyday lives and how big a role they can actually take on. This class took me out of my comfort zone, helping me expand my mindset and learning so much information on robots becoming a big part of our lives.

My first essay is about robots working with children and even adults who struggle with ASD. It talks about all the studies and different robots they put in children everyday lives to work with them and help them expand their social interactions. Children with Autism have a hard time socializing and expressing their feelings so robots being not so intimidating as other humans created a more comfortable way for these children to learn and practice social skills. Also speaking on how adults who struggle with finding jobs because of ASD can learn common working and socializing skills to live like any other adult.

My second essay talks about letting robots take the role as teachers. Robots taking on a strong role as a teacher can have some benefits but also triggered some concerns with privacy issues. Giving a robot a role as a teacher studies showed that test scores did improve, students were showing more interest in learning from a robot rather than a regular teacher teaching them. But as they may be more interesting the privacy concern arose, robots can access more than a teacher may be able to by recording one child and another child be able to access that stored information. A lot of personal opinions occurred in this writing.

My third essay was my tools for life. At first, I struggled with finding my tools for life feeling like I didn’t have anything I really related to until finally realizing what was my true passion for a long part of my life. My tools were what it took to rehearse and put on a performance. The rehearsals were an everyday routine, learning new lines and songs with nonstop practice so every bit of information would be drilled into my memory. Every dance routine that was practiced til every limb in my body was sore. So many nights that felt endless, working on every costume and the dozens of different props set up to make sure everything was in tip-top shape. Endless work to perfect every minute of the performance but when the show was performed every bit of hard work had paid off. No feeling could compare to hearing cheers and an entire audience clapping for me and all my crew that made it all happen.

Overall I feel this course has really helped me shaped my writing. I still feel I can improve in many parts of my writing, such as trying to reach deeper for more detailed writing and advancing my vocabulary. This course was a bit of a challenge for me with English not being my strongest academic course but I still strived to give my best effort in every essay I was assigned. Throughout this semester I have learned it’s important to avoid plagiarism, learning organization skills when it came to writing and most importantly your writing can always be enhanced and add as many details as needed to bring your reading to life. I hope you enjoyed my writings and portfolio.

Sincerely,

Courtney Kelly

Robots Working with ASD

Autism is known as a “spectrum” disorder because there is wide variation in the type and severity of symptoms people experience. ASD occurs in all ethnic, racial, and economic groups. Nation Institute of Mental Health states that ASD can be a lifelong disorder, treatments and services can improve a person’s symptoms and ability to function. About 1 in 59 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring. Having robots work with children and adults with ASD helps increase the chances of better-communicating skills and helping them interact with the outside world.

A study led by Yale researchers began an assessment of the child with autisms skills and emotional development. Professor Brian Scassellati set up the study by placing a robot for 30 days in a home with an autistic child and having them interact for 30 minutes a day. The robot’s task was to help model eye contact and other social behaviors by storytelling and having interactive games designed to promote social skills such as emotional understanding, taking turns and trying to see thing from other people’s perspective. One month following this study researchers assessed the children again. This resulted in improvements in social behavior including increase scores in interactive games. The children also showed improvement in making better eye contact and initiating communication skills. The program that controlled the robot allowed the robot to program to the individual child’s learning ability and the games would change depending on how the child would do.

MIT Medical Lab created a study which they called Robot Al, it was designed to help autistic kids read emotion. Oggi Rudovic a postdoc at the Medical lab stated: “the long-term goal is not to replace human therapist but for a therapist to use robots for kids with ASD to demonstrate how to better understand emotions and socialize in a more general population”. Using the robot NOA which could control motions and tone of voices, researchers took 35 children ages 3-13 for 35-minute sessions, Within that session would show the kids flashcards of certain emotions and NOA would interact with the children using the emotions demonstrated. Some kids were energetic and others got tired and bored. Some children at first fear NOA but in time became more open with it’s the presence and more affectionate. NOA used an algorithm based on a video of each child’s facial expression, head and boy moves, poses and gestures, auto recording and data on heart rate, body temperature and skin sweat from a monitor on the child’s wrist. Placed along another algorithm based on personal information such as birthplace, gender, and specific abilities this giving NOA a framework for each child. One reason they found success as stated by Rudovic ” Humans change their emotions in different ways, but the robots do it in the same way and this is less frustrating for the child because the child learns in a very structured way how the expressions will be shown”.

Robots can increase major improvement through children but can also help adults who struggle with ASD to find jobs. National Autism Society states only 16% of an autistic adult has a full time paying jobs. Researchers from Heriot-Watt University created a robot name Alyx that specializes in helping autistic adults recognize social cues which can be vital in a workplace. A big challenge people with ASD face is not being able to do the work but being able to understand what people really mean when they say something. During the session with Alyx autistic adults complete a variety of clerical tasks such as filing papers, Alyx replies with either an approving or disapproving facial expression. Alyx has a camera mounted in her head to view additional feedback from the adult such as reviewing their posture and facial expressions.

The overall resulting of having robots work with children and even adults with ASD are all very beneficial. Due to all the very positive results from using robots in homes or as a session of therapy the results are all very promising. Although not all these robots and tools to help autistic people are very affordable. This brings me to tell you about RABOUTO a robotic company in Bolder, CO, working at finding an affordable robot to help autistic interact and communicate. RABOUTO’s engineering challenge is to create a low-cost robot that is efficient, durable and with a flexible persona. Many robot hardware’s are available but not many that are consistent and work to engage a relationship which is most important. Hartman the designer of this robot decided to keep the robots function very simple but efficient. Developing an algorithm that allows us to test various forms, sounds, and messaging to determine the specific device a person will need. The result of ROBAUTO is a four-wheeled vehicle with a sphere head that can move, talk and record interactions with a user. This device helps people with ASD practice speech in a safe and private environment. The prototypes of the robot use a flexible Raspberry PI board and are open and expandable to a variety of teaching and entertainment programs including the internet. Math, programming, and engineering are very special for someone who has ASD.

Robots Help Those with Autism Communicate https://www.asme.org/engineering-topics/articles/robotics/robots-help-those-autism-communicate October 2014 By: Mark Crawford
The ROBAUTO robot is created for the teaching and therapy of people with autism.

Robots help children with autism improve social skills https://news.yale.edu/2018/08/22/robots-help-children-autism-improve-social-skills By: William Weir August 22, 2018
The robot is designed to help children with ASD improve social skills, help making eye contact and initiating taking turns.

Robotic AI Helping Autistic Kids Read Emotions https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/robots/a21990461/robotic-ai-helping-autistic-kids-read-emotions/ By : David Grossman June 29, 2018
This robot NOA works with close psycologists that is designed to consistently show feeling and help therapist and family members how to better understand their ASD.

Social robot could help adults with autism find work http://www.asiaone.com/world/social-robot-could-help-adults-autism-find-work By REUTER December 28, 2017
Heritt-Watt University researchers worked on the robot Alyx to help autistic adults recognize common social cues that are vital for a work place.
Video from USA Today the robot Alyx https://sg.news.yahoo.com/social-robot-could-help-autistic-120940459.html

Should we Welcome Robot Teachers?

Robots entering the world of young children playing the role as a teacher or nanny has its benefits but also may come with some downfalls or misconceptions. Robots could have a big impact on increasing test score and even learning social skills for toddler proven studies that have been shown by both Movellan et al and Kanda et al. Sharkey and Sharkey have found some downfalls which include students privacy by both at home and computer accessibility.

A robot taking the role as a teacher has shown results in test scores by many different studies. Rubi a low-cost robot by Movellan et al was used for toddlers speech development which did have a result of 27% improvement. But studies were proven from Hood et al that children that taught a robot to form handwritten letters had a far more increase in results by the students making mistakes and improving their performance based off children’s handwritten letters from a tablet computer. It seemed as though children’s were keen to teach the robot rather than vice versa. A rising issue stated in Scenario 1 is how a robot can show authority to a whole classroom. Which we all know some students may be the type to act out or show aggressive behavior. Bartneck and Hu studies were concerning children harming a robot without a robot noticing. As a robot, they do not have the design to apply that authority figure that a human teacher is able to. Which brings the question of ” Suppose a child were to treat a robot badly, what impact would this have on their behavior towards other children?”. In my personal opinion that could become a very dangerous situation especially in a classroom environment.

Privacy is the main concern introduced by Sharkey and Sharkey. As a robot, they are made to obtain information about an object or person by what they see or hear. Robots use sensors to enable direct surveillance and those sensors could be transferred to human monitors. Robots do not have this as an evil intent but they are designed to have the ability to find out deeper information, cell phones and personal computers being the main factor in that matter. Also including the fact that other students may have access to other students information. This being possible because robots are designed to store information on an individual and without notice, another student would be able to access that information. Personally, I feel privacy is very crucial to some students and that fact is that their information could be accessed by another student could lead to our very common concerns today such as bullying which could lead to some very fatal results.

A topic that stuck out to me the most is caretaking for both elderly and younger children. Sharkey and Sharkey stated vulnerable elderly and young children rise the concern to control and accountability. To what extent will a robot know when to control a child or if a child was in harm’s way would the robot be a safe decision for the scenario. Robots as nannies are used more in a home environment then in a classroom and this is a leading concern of psychological harm on a child especially if this robot is being used for a long-term period. Sparrow and Sparrow arose the concern to the reduction in human contact. In this scenario, I agree with the concern. For the reason, a child has a tendency to grow attached to a toy or object and as a robot being able to actually talk and interact with that child they may tend to favor that over a toy or even a human. Would this lead to growth in social development health when it comes to dealing with human interaction?

Getting into attachment and comforting for young minds that can make situations in the real world a bit confusing. Within the reading of “Ethical Concerns About Robots” using robots as teachers, students tend to grow a relationship which they would begin to believe is mutual with the robot. The loss of human contact could result in a lack of social skills in a child.

In some ways out weighing the concerns of robots as teachers, they do have reasons that favor this role. Takayama et al rose a valid point that robots can outperform humans. Robots are very advanced and could grasp students attention more then a humans role as a teacher. Kanda et al studied 1st and 6th graders using a robot to help with English scores which in fact did improve the students English test scores. This study was perform by a picture word matching test and showed the students that interacted more with the robot had an increase in their testing. Also including robots in favor of replacing teachers do happen to be more cost effective then a human alternative

Performance Tools

The day I have been practicing months for is here way too soon. I look down the long tan hallway in front of me all the talented girls I had up against me. I watch as the girls walk through those big red doors that seem so traumatizing knowing that behind those doors lie the fate of whether I make or break. The looks on some faces walking through them some so disappointed and another seeming way to happy that it seems my chances are non-existing. My turn is up. My palms so sweaty I fear even holding a microphone that it would just slip right through. On the surface, I remain calm and ready trying to convince myself I am going to blow the judges away. I walk on stage seeing the huge spotlight directly on me, the pressure is on. Walking across that big wooden stage hoping I don’t trip over my own two feet the music starts, without even a thought in my mind my voice takes away all the nerves I never imagined would leave me.

One of the judges stands up with nothing but dreadful thoughts running through my mind he applauds me telling me I am exactly what they have been looking for. My bright rosy cheeks smiling ear to ear I am overwhelmed with glee. I was speechless as if I hadn’t just sung my heart out in front of all these strangers. At that moment I knew this was only the beginning.

The preparation is just getting started. My next few months are all devoted to my one big night to shine.

Starting to see the new voice coach I was so nervous about all the do’s and don’ts I was going to be lectured on. Warms ups were the worst part sounding like I was at the dentist saying ah in so many different tempos.” Open your mouth as if you were eating a big bite of a burger” my instructor would tell me. The small tips that made a world of a difference perfecting every note I hit.

Rehearsals became part of my daily routine. Going over lines and songs repeatedly. Making sure every line was drilled so hard into your brain you were sure never to forget them. Dressing up in some of the most intricate outfits. Sharing a passion and love of my own with so many other talented performers all the nerves I ever had leading up to this faded so far beyond existence.

The day I rehearsed endless nights for was finally here, it was showtime. The glitz and glam were only the beginning. All the actors running around stage perfecting every prop in sight, making sure everyone’s outfits, hair and makeup were just so. I peek through the long red curtains to see a crowd of faces just patiently waiting for the show to begin. My heart was beating out of my chest. I knew I had worked so hard for this day I wasn’t going to let anything, not even my crazy nerves come between my performance. As I stepped on stage all I could see were thousands of eyes staring right at me with a huge spotlight gleaming on me. I let my voice carry me away into a world of pure blissfulness. I couldn’t believe what I was capable of as the crowd stood up cheering and clapping for me I was in my own place of paradise a place no one could ever take me. Feeling my cheeks so hot and red with so much joy I bowed and waved at all the supportive faces that were there that night for me. It was one night I have ever felt most alive.

Rough Draft Military Robots

Todays military robots are so sophisticated and advanced with technology for specific operations. The most popular classes of military robots are UGVs (unmanned ground vehicle), UUVs (unmanned underwater vehicle), and UAVs (unmanned aircraft vehicles). UGVS are very small and can be easily accessed by a soldier whether they are carry it or can put it in their backpack. These UGVs are equipped with a GPS, electronic compass and temperature sensors. They can move up to 8 mph and can crawl upstairs and are able to be flipped over, this small robot can let off 400 g’s of force. Getting into the UUVs they are used more for surveillance and reconnaissance. Mainly used for shoreline reconnaissance for high risk or unsuitable condition for human soldiers to face. UUVs are extremely handy by being able to carry a wide variety of payloads such as images, environmental sensors or even mine counter measures. These intelligent robots can move through rubble and even snow, they are used for ground attacks like armored tanks. Now UAVs are more like drones. They are not necessarily a weapon themselves but they are able to carry weapons. They act as small airplanes and are easy to go unseen in risky situations.

I feel very strongly about the use for robots in our military force. It creates a safer outlook for our troops and helps ease the unknown factor of what they are about to face, by using cameras and sensors to show what is ahead of them. Not only are they helping these men defuse bombs and returning with important material, some robots are even sturdy and intelligent enough to return injured troops to their base to get the medical attention when needed. Robots aren’t only helping save lives but they are also saving a lot of money. Stated in Defense News story highly capable drones can go for under $500 while a human missals can cost up to $1.5 million. Most robots have significant range when firing shots and also a huge payload limit for over government. Needless to say military robots would make a major positive impact on our country.

Robot Policeman Thesis Statement

Robots should not be police due to lack of decision making and empathy .
Robots could come off as unreliable and unhuman making it difficult for a criminal to open up and share their story.
Human cops are trained to analyze and react quickly to certain crisis situations, whereas robots may not have that quick of a reaction or analyze the situation before reacting.
One single robot cost nearly 5 years worth of the salary of one individual policeman.
While local police officers practically pay back to their community by shopping locally and buying everyday needs using their money earned.
Although human police should not be replaced by robots for multiple reasons robots are a safer look for intense situations such as bombings and riots. Situations in which human cops should not be put in the positions but still do due to their entitlement.

Peer Review on Robots Working with Children with ASD

Your rough draft did meet many of the standards for the writing. You explained on how they make better connection with robots then with humans because children with ASD have trouble interacting with people. But in the reading I feel you should have spoke on the robots that were being used in these experiments and the results that came from them. Letting us know more about who the creators of the robots were and how they ensembled the robots to work with children with ASD. A little more detail on some of the experiments of the robots with the children would have really made your essay more enhanced. But overall I understood the message behind why robots working with children with ASD can benefit them.

Final draft Should We Welcome Robot Teachers?

Robots entering the world of young children playing the role as a teacher or nannie has it’s benefits but also may come with some downfalls or misconceptions. Robots could have a big impact on increasing test score and even learning social skills for toddler proven studies that have been shown by both Movellan et al and Kanda et al. Sharkey and Sharkey have found some downfalls which include students privacy by both at home and computer accessibility.

A robot taking the role as a teacher has shown results in test scores by many different studies. Rubi a low cost robot by Movellan et al was used for toddlers speech development which did have a result of 27% improvement. But studies were proven from Hood et al that children that taught a robot to form handwritten letters had a far more increase in results by the students making mistakes and improving their performance based off children’s handwritten letters from a tablet computer. It seemed as though children’s were keen to teach the robot rather than vice versa. A rising issue stated in Scenario 1 is how a robot can show authority to a whole class room. Which we all know some students may be the type to act out or show aggressive behavior. Bartneck and Hu studies were concerning children harming a robot without a robot noticing. As a robot they do not have the design to apply that authority figure that a human teacher is able to. Which brings the question of ” Suppose a child were to treat a robot badly, what impact would this have on their behavior towards other children?”. In my personal opinion that could become a very dangerous situation especially in a classroom environment.

Privacy is a main concern introduced by Sharkey and Sharkey. As a robot they are made to obtain information about an object or person by what they see or hear. Robots use sensors to enable direct surveillance and those sensors could be transferred to human monitors. Robots do not have this as an evil intend but they are designed to have the ability to find out deeper information , cellphones and personal computers being a main factor in that matter. Also including the fact that other students may have access to other students information. This being possible because robots are designed to store information on an individual and without notice another student would be able to access that information. Personally I feel privacy is very crucial to some students and that fact is that their information could be accessed by another student could lead to our very common concerns today such as bullying which could lead to some very fatal results.

A topic that stuck out to me the most is caretaking for both elderly and younger children. Sharkey and Sharkey stated vulernable elderly and young children rise the concern to control and accountability. To what extent will a robot know when to control a child or if a child was in harms way would the robot be a safe decisions for the scenario. Robots as nannies are used more in a home environment then in a class room and this is a leading concern of psychological harm on a child especially if this robot is being used for a long term period. Sparrow and Sparrow arose the concern to reduction in human contact. In this scenario I agree on the concern. For the reason a child has a tendency to grow attached to a toy or object and as a robot being able to actually talk and interact with that child they may tend to favor that over a toy or even a human. Would this lead to growth in social development health when it comes to dealing with human interaction?

Getting into attachment and comforting for young minds that can make situations in the real world a bit confusing. Within the reading of “Ethical Concerns About Robots” using robots as teachers students tend to grow a relationship which they would begin to believe is mutual with the robot. The loss of human contact could result in a lack of social skills in a child.

In some ways out weighing the concerns of robots as teachers they do have reasons that favor this role. Takayama et al rose a valid point that robots can outperform humans. Robots are very advanced and could grasp students attention more then a humans role as a teacher. Kanda et al studied 1st and 6th graders using a robot to help with English scores which in fact did improve the students English test scores. This study was perform by a picture word matching test and showed the students that interacted more with the robot had an increase in their testing. Also including robots in favor of replacing teachers do happen to be more cost effective then a human alternative.

Work Cited ( Annotated Bib)