Robot revolution inches closer - A.I. has now learned 'rational reasoning' skills, can teach itself

Within 10 years intelligent robots will become common.

Robots are getting smarter, and are becoming capable of doing things we can't easily do, or do in a short space of time. It is becoming apparent what will happen next as the world's movers and shakers prepare for a world where robots provide the labor, and in some cases, the brains.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - There are several different technology streams at work in the world today, and they have become commonplace without anyone noticing. A little more than a decade ago, we lived in an age without smartphones, iPads, or smart digital assistants. Some people had PDA's, or "personal data assistants," which were monochromatic calculators with a built in notepad and calendar.

In a decade we've come a long way. Our phones are more than phones. They're stereos, and they store entire shelves worth of music. They're calculators, and personal computers. They can access the entire sum of human knowledge in a few clicks. Any song ever composed, any movie ever made, and virtually every book worth reading can be accessed on your phone. They are our alarm clocks, our cameras, and even allow us to edit pictures and video. Combined with wearable technology, we can monitor our health. We can take classes, shop, make reservations, find dates, and much more.

There are other streams. Smart devices like Amazon's Echo can field questions, play music, games, and it's all voice controlled.

There are devices that automatically manage your house. Cameras that tell who is at the front door, thermostats that allow you to set your dials remotely, and even technology that tells you what's in your fridge and when you need to buy bread, milk and eggs.

There are robotics which can now traverse all kinds of terrain, perform basic tasks, lift and move heavy objects and even drive a car and truck without human intervention. There are some robots that can act as security guards and others which can deliver mail or a pizza. There are drones which can fly and record everything they see.

Finally, there is artificial intelligence. A.I. used to be good for paying chess, now it can beat the world champion at Go. Most recently, Google's Deep Mind demonstrated its ability to teach itself how to navigate the London Underground. That's 270 stops along 11 different lines, and nothing was programmed into the machine to help.

Google scientists described the machine as carrying out "rational reasoning."

In the past decade, most of these technology streams have gone from the laboratory into our homes. The next step is for these streams to come together.

The reason for so many different devices performing different functions is to perfect their abilities. The versatility of a smartphone will combine with the entertaining convenience of an Amazon Echo. These will be paired with robotic machinery and super-smart A.I. and within the next decade we will have intelligent, reasoning, self-learning robots.

Let us be clear. Intelligent, reasoning, self-learning robots are coming.

They will come within the next decade and they will take over many jobs. The upshot is that productivity will increase and many of your chores may be taken over by these machines. Imagine having a gourmet chef prepare your meals, or to never have to do laundry again.

These developments will raise questions we will soon have to answer. For example, what do we do when there are too few jobs left for humans? Who will enjoy what is produced if nobody works? What will we do with our free time?

These are profound questions and we had better start thinking about the answers now. This future is coming soon, whether we believe it or not.

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