SUNDAY REWIND: Robotics and society by Cynthia Yeung

This week’s Sunday Rewind is a #mtpcon SF+Americas keynote from Cynthia Yeung, Head of Product at Plus One Robotics. It’s a talk that gets us thinking about human/robot interaction and how we might discover a deeper understanding of our own humanity through robotics and AI.

Cynthia reflects on the physical, economic and social context of her keynote. She says that much of the science fiction she read as a child was full of dystopian themes where robots have replaced human work and people don’t know what to do with themselves. She then notes that it’s important to make a distinction between jobs and human livelihood and dignity, because they are not the same thing.

A robot also can’t assume all the responsibilities of a given job, says Cynthia. Even the most advanced robots do not have the dexterity or are capable of the human judgement needed to problem-solve on the fly.

Good intentions from developers aren’t enough, Cynthia says. “It’s important to design not just for the happy path, but also to poke and prod for vulnerabilities to understand where things might break.” She adds that data sets are only as good as the thoughtfulness and care of the people who put them together. Automation can be a boon or curse.

Watch the video and read the original post here; Robotics and society by Cynthia Yeung