History 101 (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 6 - Robots - full transcript

In this 1940s movie,

Roll-Oh the robot butler
caters to a housewife's every whim.

Roll-Oh, answer the door.

Yes, ma'am.

Roll-Oh get.

Her helpful chrome-plated companion

seems a dream come true.

But not everyone likes the idea
of a mechanical manservant.

In 1940,
a robot butler is only a daydream.

But since then, we have made robots
a vital part of our lives.

In 2020, we share Earth
with an estimated 9 million robots.



About 3 million work in factories.

But they're also out on American roads,
in the form of self-driving cars.

And yet the more we rely on robots,

the more we worry about being replaced.

Over 70% of Americans are concerned

that humans will lose
their jobs to robots.

In one Chinese province, 2 million workers
were replaced by robots in just two years.

Robots are even in our hospitals.

About 5,000 da Vinci surgical arms
operate on patients around the world...

even though 69% of Americans
are uncomfortable with robot surgeons.

As robots get smarter, faster, stronger,
they improve our lives.

But will they make humanity redundant?

Popular culture likes to portray robots
as either helpful assistants

or ruthless killers.



A robot is a machine that automatically
performs complicated tasks.

The term first pops up in 1920
in the dystopian Czech play R.U.R.,

where assembly lines of workers
are replaced and eventually exterminated

by more efficient humanoid machines.

It doesn't take long for robots
to step out of the realm of fiction.

Fire!

I am Electro.

Mightiest of all robots.

If you use me well...

I can be your slave.

In 1939,
Electro causes a sensation

at the World's Fair in New York.

He's just a steel skeleton of gears
with a motor wrapped in aluminum.

Still, he feeds the public's
growing fascination with robots.

Most robot stories at the time
are Frankenstein tales,

where evil robots destroy their masters.

So, in 1950,
iconic sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov

sets out a moral code for them,

one that will influence how we think
about robots for decades to come.

The first law,

a robot may not harm a human being.

Number two, a robot must obey
orders given it by qualified personnel,

unless those orders violate
rule number one.

Rule number three,
a robot must protect its own existence,

unless that violates rules one or two.

Asimov's laws are fictional,

but they inspire real-world engineers
to create the first truly helpful robot.

It can pour a whiskey,
but it's more than a tin butler.

A robot for industry.

And this is it. Unimate,
a machine that can reach out to seven feet

and perform a multitude of tasks,
in a factory or laboratory,

as skillfully as a man
but without getting tired.

Faced with America's
growing demand for more automobiles,

in 1961, General Motors jumps
on the potential of this new robot arm...

...putting Unimates to work
on the assembly line.

Soon, the efficient robots
are crowding factory floors

all around the world.

In 1966,
Nokia first manufactures robotic arms

for Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Three years later,
Kawasaki makes them for the Asian market.

Europe soon follows.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz,
British Leyland and Fiat

all put them to work in their factories.

But Japan really embraces
the new technology.

By 1981, 6,000 robots are working
in car factories across Japan,

compared to a mere 370 in the UK.

Because of this,

in the '80s, the British auto industry
finds itself lagging far behind,

unable to compete with the flood
of cheaper-to-make Japanese imports.

I think the lesson for us is that,
unless we get into the latest equipment,

that we might lose the capacity
to make certain things altogether.

So we must keep up.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher

is fascinated by Japanese robots,

who work the line 24-7

without unionizing or going on strike.

But with unemployment in the UK
hovering at 10%...

many workers see the robots
as a threat to their livelihoods.

All those in favor
of that resolution, would you please show?

The workforce
could not be convinced

that only by modernizing and investing
could a genuine future be secured.

But by 1983,
the writing is on the wall.

Unimation opens a factory in the UK.

Despite workers' fears,

the robots actually do make the British
automotive industry more competitive,

creating more jobs.

But these factory-floor robots
are still largely blind, deaf and dumb,

best suited to repetitive tasks
on the assembly line.

If robots are going to help humans
with more complicated work,

they'll need to start thinking
for themselves.

They'll need
some sort of artificial intelligence.

AI is software that can write itself,

allowing computers to learn
from data gathered in their environment.

Since the 1960s,

researchers have been exploring the idea
of a robot guided by AI software,

who can think for itself,

like the politely disobedient HAL 9000

from Stanley Kubrick's
2001: A Space Odyssey.

This dream first takes shape
at the Stanford Research Institute.

At SRI, we are experimenting
with a mobile robot.

We call him Shakey.

Shakey's camera and bump sensors

send signals to its computer brain
over in the next room...

allowing the robot to deal
with unpredictable circumstances.

Our gremlin, Charlie, symbolizes
an agent of change unknown to Shakey.

Shakey's sensors tell him
that the box has slipped off the push bar.

But his cat whiskers tell him
where the box is

so he can get behind it
and resume pushing.

It's all still a bit shaky,

but the robot's program
is a milestone in artificial intelligence,

a platform on which future,
more complex algorithms will be built.

By the 1990s, computers become
far more powerful, and AI gets smarter.

IBM develops Deep Blue, a supercomputer,
teaching it to play chess.

In 1997, Deep Blue challenges
grand master Garry Kasparov,

the Michael Jordan of chess.

He's shaking his head
as if something disastrous has happened.

Kasparov, after the move C4, has resigned!

lt's a landmark moment.

A human has been out-thought
by a computer.

And those computers
are getting smarter by the minute...

because the amount of transistors
being squeezed onto microchips

roughly doubles every two years...

exponentially increasing
their speed and capacity.

Think of it this way.

Imagine a car
traveling at five miles per hour

that doubles its speed every minute.

It's traveling at ten miles per hour
after one minute.

At 40 miles per hour after three minutes.

But after 27 minutes,

it's traveling
at 671,088,640 miles per hour.

Just a fraction faster
than the speed of light.

Three minutes at that speed
would get it to Mars.

That is the pace
at which computing power starts growing

throughout the '80s and '90s.

By the late '90s,
computing power is compact enough

that artificial intelligence programs
can be installed in robots.

It's a huge development.

Robots now have
decision-making abilities

and can take on more complicated tasks
too dangerous for humans.

On July 4th, 1997,

in one giant leap for robot-kind,

self-driving rover Sojourner
goes where no human has gone before.

Mars.

With the aid of AI, Sojourner navigates

across the rocky Martian terrain
for three months,

taking samples
and sending back 550 photos.

Similar AI-driven rovers
prove indispensable on Earth.

Defusing bombs in war zones.

Saving lives from Kosovo to Afghanistan.

AI also helps flying vehicles,
such as drones,

navigate long distances,

allowing them to react
to any changing environment.

In Rwanda,
where road infrastructure is limited,

drones deliver blood banks
to hard-to-reach places.

Now, with a drone,

blood is obtained on time,

so that we can save people's lives
without any delay.

While some drones save lives,

others do the opposite.

On October 7th, 2001,
just after the 9/11 attacks,

the American military
uses a missile-carrying Predator drone

against the Taliban commander
in Afghanistan...

debuting a new form of robot warfare.

But while some robots
begin acting as assassins,

others become valued companions,

especially in Japan.

It's an attitude
deeply rooted in Japanese religion.

According to the ancient Shinto teachings,

man-made objects
can contain human spirits...

which helps explain why Japanese
technicians have been using AI

to develop friendlier,
more responsive robots.

Hello, my name is Asimo,

Honda's humanoid robot.

Robots like Asimo,
first developed by Honda in 2000,

are designed to help humans
tackle the loneliness of modern life.

In 2013,

Toyota's humanoid robot, Kirobo,

is launched up
to the International Space Station

to keep his astronaut friend company.

They spend 18 months in orbit together
and share everything.

My only regret
is that I will be leaving you alone here.

I'll be all right. I'm a robot.

Despite having AI,
robots like Kirobo

don't have feelings
the way robots in movies do.

But they can teach humans
to better understand emotions.

Robots can help children with autism,

teaching them how to recognize
and express emotional responses.

Is he happy, sad, angry or scared?

Humans all over the world

are increasingly turning to intelligent
robots for emotional support.

Japan leads the way,
with over 300,000 companion robots,

twenty times more than in the UK.

Robots are helping
to care for the elderly.

Teaching and playing with children.

And filling in for absent parents.

- Yay!
- Automated companions

are also replacing the need
for human spouses.

Since 2016, over 3,700 men in Japan

have chosen to shun human bonds

and instead have married
robotic holograms.

New synthetic materials

start allowing designers to create
extraordinarily lifelike robots

that use AI to engage in conversation.

But others stay focused on more practical
uses for intelligent robots.

In November 2005,
23 cars line up in the Mojave Desert

for a 132-mile race.

Not one of them has a driver.

Stanley, Stanford Racing Team's VW,
takes first place.

It's the beginning of the car
that drives itself.

It's inevitable to me

that, 50 years from now,
cars will drive themselves.

Today, we lose 43,000 people
on American highways in traffic accidents,

mostly because of human error.

Sebastian Thrun
goes on to work for Google,

turning the mundane family car
into a robot.

Soon, Tesla and Uber
start pouring millions

into developing self-driving cars,

competing for their share
of the budding market.

In December 2018, Google's Waymo

cautiously rolls out
its self-driving taxi service.

People are now paying for robot rides.

It's a watershed moment.

For the first time,

humans are actually putting their lives
in the hands of robots on the road.

So how do these cars work?

LIDAR gives the vehicle a 360-degree view.

It also sees the world in 3D,
day or night.

Radar and ultrasonic sensors tell the car
how far away other vehicles are

and how fast they're going.

Cameras read traffic lights
and road signs.

A computer analyzes all the data
and makes split-second decisions.

The AI programs controlling these cars
need millions of driving hours to train.

They aren't perfect...

but robot cars may end up
being better at driving humans

than humans are at driving themselves.

By 2030,

there will likely be some 20 million
autonomous vehicles in operation

in the US alone.

The roads may be safer,

but for the 3.5 million American truckers,
driverless vehicles spell trouble.

Their jobs are in jeopardy.

And they're not the only ones.

AI automation is coming to Wall Street.

The number of people working in finance
around the world

is expected to drop by up to 1.7 million
over the next ten years.

Traditional traders are no match for AI,

capable of analyzing vast amounts of data.

The robots seem to be coming
for everyone's jobs.

- Yay!
- This is crazy, but all right.

And as they
become better at navigating our world,

the prospect of putting advanced
intelligence programs inside them

seems more and more unsettling.

After all, an increasing number of robots
carry weapons.

In 2018, a former employee

reveals that the US military is developing
AI software to pilot their drones...

allowing them to identify targets
on their own, faster.

The US Navy has already announced
the development of a robot warship,

designed to cruise for months
without a crew,

hunting enemy submarines.

The US Army has tested self-driving tanks.

But such autonomous killing machines

may not be able to differentiate
between subtle human behaviors...

putting people at grave risk.

For now, robots and humans
are working side by side.

Yet technologists do seem to be in a race
to create robots that can surpass us,

even at the very things
that make us uniquely human.

How much everyday human function
do we want to outsource to robots?

And what happens
when the AI controlling our robots

begins to outsmart us?

This hypothetical tipping point
is known as "the singularity."

If we can make an AI that can make
smarter and smarter AIs, it can make...

all sorts of inventions
beyond humanity's wildest dreams.

Such concepts may seem far-fetched,

but so were robot butlers in 1940.

When AI does outsmart us
and robots take on more human function,

will we lose our purpose?

How will we cope
with this new world order?

And who will be in control?