Whatever Happened... to Robot Jones? Continued

Chapter 14: The Complete and Total History of Robotics on Film

The sentimental hum of the VHS tape in play was so much more pleasing to the ears than the suddenly loud score of music that ushererd in the title cards: A set of silvery white letters in a font that resembled handwriting, on a blueprint background.

McSam Hill Publishers and Dimwit Documentaries proudly presents:

Jolly Roger's: The Complete and Total History of Robotics: A Survey of Computer and AI Technology.

Copyright © 1981 by McSam Hill Publishers.

Part 6: The 1970s to the Present

The last title card faded to black, and when the screen brightened again, it showed a middle aged man sitting middle-shot in a chair in a white room with a broad smile.

"Hello," the celebrity said to the camera, "I'm Martin Sheen, and welcome back to our look back on the world's most influential developments in robotics history. In this sixth and last video, we will be talking about some of the contemporary players in the competitive world of robotics technologies, and the laws and guidelines set in place to help assimilate these machines into our everyday lives."

The shot of the host cut to the video's first shot of a historical document, and began rotating though photographs and black and white video as Sheen's voice carried on the story:

"In our last video, we explored Robotic Laws 1 through 7, set in place in 1953, during the height of the Cold War. As there was a strong fear the public had for the first ever sentient automatons to turn on their creators, the surgeon general issued a proclamation for these new robotics manufacturers to program every one of their units to obey seven very specific rules, alongside whatever other rules they were programmed with. These rules, now widely known as the Robotic Codes of Conduct, were mostly regarding a logical loophole that prevent a unit from obeying an order that just so happened to put a human in danger. Regular unexpected checks on factories occurred, and failure to comply with installing these ordinances within the unit's programming was anything from a hefty fine of Two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars, to imprisonment for treason against the American government, as any non-compliance with a major legislative order was considered as good as treason, in the red scare days.

"Quickly, the major robotics plants fell into line, and after a NATO meeting a few years later, it was found that the Western European countries were applying these laws to their own robotics businesses. These seven laws were now considered universal among all authorized robotics manufacturers, and at last, the public found ease at the idea of robots roaming the streets among them. This was also a boon for the manufacturers, who saw a drastic rise in sales for simple appliance-based units for wealthier houses, now that the clients' worries were put to rest. As sales increased, technological scientists were able to pursue their interests in making the robots smarter, more dynamic in abilities, and above all, more pleasant to be around, as some of the clients and their children were still deeply unsettled at the sight of a walking, talking machine.

"To offset the uncanny feel of the robots, manufacturers began giving them faces, voices, and other features to make them more personable. But the push to make them more 'human-like' was a race that was dragged down by two factors: Cost, and discovery. One company may have found a voice that sounded almost perfectly human, but another company may have been the first to make a robot's face emote like a child's. No company really had the perfect model robot to please the public, and rumors of seeing real life androids put even more pressure on the robotics companies to make miracles happen overnight. One such expert, Mark Veltmer, cited in a 1969 consumer magazine, stated that 'robotics engineers are asked to do things that no other business are asked to do-make miracles happen overnight. You don't see people throw riots outside the doors of automotive corporations, demanding their flying cars. Yet every day, new features are listed as the top priority for robotics companies, and in their rush to get the new models out the doors, there are always problems. You'll never hear of a downed flying car accident in the next ten years, but you'll hear hundreds of cases of faulty robots for this exact reason.