A．Robots will be less expensive than they are now.B．The……
TEXT A
Robots have been the stuff
of popular culture for so long that We think of them mostly as a fun. In the
next decade they will finally become practical beyond factory assembly lines.
Granted, they won’t perform the wonderous stunts they do in movies; the first
generation of "real" robots may seem a bit crude. But by the end of the decade,
we may well encounter tiny robots cooking hamburgers in fast - food restaurants,
mopping up shopping malls, even delivering meal trays in hospitals.
Two factors are pushing the development of robotics: technology and
economics. Artificial intelligence is the key to a successful robot, but some of
the simplest tasks for a human mind are difficult for a robot. One example: the
ability to look at the comer of a room, where walls and ceiling meet, and know
that the corner goes in, not out. Easy for humans, very tough for real -world
R2D25. But new neural-network computers, which more closely resemble the human
brain ,look particularly promising for teaching robots how to adapt to: their
surroundings.
Economics is the key to the acceptance of robots.
As declining birthrates lead to a shortage of entry- level workers in much of
the industrialized world, researchers are designing robots that can manage at
least portions of such jobs as burger flippers or hospital orderlies.
Fast -food robots will probably cook and package food; humans will still
greet the public at the counter and make incorrect change.
By
the late 90’s,improved robots will be inexpensive enough to serve as aides for
the disabled, giving even quadriplegics the ability to feed themselves and
perform office work. Not all robots will be so benign. Another model in
production is a security guard designed to wander deserted warehouses and signal
a human guard when it encounters intruders. At least one American firm has
designed an armed security robot capable of firing a weapon.
And
the long-promised home robot This little electronic servant, capable of
delivering a frosty beer from the fridge, picking up the kids’ toys and washing
the occasional window, probably won’t be a mass - market item in the
90’s--unless we modify our homes to accommodate them. Every room would need to
have tiny radio beacons to tell the robot where it is, and staircases would need
special construction for easy robot access. Sound unlikely Perhaps. But in 1890
a person might have thought it unlikely if he had been told that the entire
urban landscape of the planet would be modified to accommodate the
automobile.
Which of the following statements is not true
A．Robots will be less expensive than they are now.
B．They will be used as aides for the disabled.
C．They will all be gentle and kind.
D．They will deal with intruders.
