Wired to take on the world

They are all new forms of life, or strange forms of almost-life. They're robots - walking, talking, sleeping, crawling alien beings who represent the next stage of techno-species. If not quite Robo-Sapiens, they're at least Robo Habilis.

Humans have always had a fascination for constructs, beings made from inorganic materials. From the Golem of Hebrew mythology, to Pinnochio, to the creepy automaton built by Dr Morbius in Forbidden Planet to the all-but unstoppable Big Arnie in Terminator, machine creatures have stirred the imagination for a long time, and those are just the fictional ones. The real ones are now about to pay us a visit.

Robotix 96, a two-day event in the Barony Hall of Strathclyde University will see a host of metal and plastic creatures who will eventually be put to work in the service of man by working in hostile environments or even simply cleaning our homes when we're out.

The exhibition, on Friday and Saturday, is a technology festival of machines in motion or ambulation which will bring together some of the leading experts in robotics and artificial intelligence in what will be a combined Robot Expo and an Olympic Games for the reconstructed. It's the first in a series of robot exhibitions leading to a massive month-long event in the year 2000 as part of the millennium celebration which will help position the city as a world centre of science and technology.

Robotix 96 will bring cybernautics leaders and top engineers who will not only present their babies and pit them against each other in competition, but they will also debate the whole question of robotics and the role of man versus the cyborg in the 21st century.

The real focus of fascination will be the robots themselves, and this will be the first time enthusiasts in the UK will have the opportunity to see the famous creatures designed and built by world leader Mark Tilden, guru in the field. Tilden was a lab technician who built robots for fun and surprised the automaton-designing community by making them better and more efficient than the rest. He became an overnight success when the tiny solar-powered survivalist 'bots were recognised as the future generation.

The little machines have their own nervous networks and intelligence systems which enable them to virtually live and interact with each other in the cybernetic equivalent of an insect colony. The little beasties learn for themselves, pass on their knowledge to the rest, and help each other. They even rest up to save energy when their solar batteries run down and come out for a recharge when there's enough light.

Tilden's family, made from odd pieces of other machines in a kind of technological reincarnation, are based on what he calls Beam principles - biology, electronics, aesthetics, and mechanics.

Such is Tilden's lead in the field that he was headhunted by the US national laboratory for a massively-funded robot project. While he's working, his creations clean his house. One of them catches flies. On a more serious note, such creatures will eventually precede man in exploring the solar system and beyond, but closer to home they could be used to save life endangered by man's inhumanity to flesh and blood creatures.

Tilden says: ``I'm aiming for self-contained, computerless living machines which can work unattended for years. Now we plan to tackle one of the toughest robot challenges in the world, which is unattended explosive mine cleaning. With 100 million mines in more than 60 countries, they kill on average one person every 45 minutes, mostly children.

``Robots could solve the problem. The only way to make sure a mine has been found is to step on it and that's what I'm working on. Hopefully I can design cheap, reliable biodegradable, long-life robots which can clear land of a nasty legacy.''

As in one small step for not quite a man . . .

Another star attraction at Robotix will be Gillespie, new member of faculty at Edinburgh University's artificial intelligence department. He's a major presence, a powerful mobile robot 5ft tall and weighing 200lbs. Built in the USA by Real World Interface, Inc, it has a variety of sensors allowing it to manoeuvre about its lab.

Lecturer Gillian Hayes says: ``Gillespie can see with its camera, feel bumps with its touch-sensitive sides, and detect objects with its infra-red and sonar sensors. All its computers and batteries are on board, which means it can move around without an umbilical cord to a computer.

``He has a speech interface with which it can ask you politely to get out of the way, and a compass to keep track of the direction. Gillespie will show off skills like picking its way through obstacle-strewn areas and chasing moving objects.''

The AI department's human members use their robots to carry out biologically-inspired research into human skills which are very difficult for robots, like computing how to move to catch a thrown ball.

Most of the robots are not at all anthropomorphic. Some of them bear more resemblance to insects, with jointed appendages and shiny exoskeletons.

A number of creations are from Portsmouth University, collaborations between Professors G Virk and Glasgow-born Arthur Collie, a monocle-sporting eccentric who is one of the world's foremost robotics engineers. As a schoolboy he distilled his own alcoholic concoctions and now his Nero class robots can climb into toxic environments like nuclear reactors. They are at the cutting edge of android design and carry a powerful chainsaw for cutting away sheet metal. Shelley Winters would have probably survived The Poseidon Adventure had these bugs been around.

The ZigZag and Robug are just two of these metal marvels which will demonstrate their ability to climb sheer walls and even scuttle across ceilings on pneumatic feet while carrying out intricate tasks.

Richard Greenhill, of the Shadow Robot project, will demonstrate his human-sized bi-ped, almost 6ft tall which can walk with an uncanny humanoid gait. The Shadowfolk will also show their Liberator, intended for use with an active triangulation rangefinder system to develop simple domestic capabilities. At the exhibition it will show how to find a table, locate a cup, pick it up, and put it away. Making tea is obviously more difficult, for now.

The team even has a seemingly simple robotic hand made of Lego with muscles powered by compressed air.

Yet another group from Oxford University will demonstrate a kind of robot which is designed as a guidance system for blind people. It's the least robotic of them all and built with funds from the EU initiative for the elderly and disabled. Almost like a rucksack harness it has sonar devices and two cameras and will soon be undergoing field trials at the Irish Guide Dogs Training centre in Cork.

Apart from the high technology demonstrations, at least 30 constructed athletes will compete in sporting events including sprints, javelin, sumo wrestling, wall climbing, and slalom.

But while the robots themselves will be the main attraction, there will be serious discussion as some of Britain's best minds in science, medicine, literature, and the law will debate the motion: Who will make the most successful citizens of the 21st century - robots or humans?

Leading each side will be a member of Glasgow University's world champion debating team and the battle of words will be chaired by Helena Kennedy, QC. Robotics might be the stuff of hi-tech and science fiction, but it's obviously a cerebral business too.

The outcome of the debate is not a foregone conclusion. Humans still have a mistrust of robots and mechanical men, fearing that they will want to take over the world and enslave man. This will not happen. Man is already enslaved by the very evolutionary imperative which has made him want to take over the world. Robots just won't ever have that drive. They may not be more successful in the next century, but they will be nicer . . . er . . . people.