Artificial Intelligence. Caution robots. Part II
It was based on the principle of getting pleasure. Each robot was equipped with a BAC (Biochemically Active Center), the state of which depended on different senses. Spotting robots enjoyed looking at the world around them and finding harmony in it. They could … Part Two: Botanists.
After the incident with the robot sweet tooth, a scientific council was assembled. The council decided to improve the robots and continue the experiment to develop their intelligence. To begin with, in addition to taste, we decided to try to improve their organs of sight and hearing. Robots, of course, had sound sensors and video cameras to replace ears and eyes. Now it was supposed to equip them with completely new devices.
It was based on the principle of getting pleasure. Each robot was equipped with a BAC (Biochemically Active Center), the state of which depended on different senses. The visual robots got pleasure when they looked at the world around them and found harmony in it. They could distinguish colors and their combinations better than other robots. The sweet tooth robot has been modified into a taster robot. So that he does not run constantly in search of new taste sensations, his speech apparatus was also improved. Now he was enjoying the conversation, his speech became more and more human-like.
Sound robots constantly listened to ambient sounds. They could hear the slightest rustle and, with the correct recognition of the sound source, their BAM would come to a state of joy. Soon, the sound engineers learned to identify all employees of the institute by steps behind a closed door. And they could even tell in what mood the person walked along the corridor.
Work at the institute began to boil. A lot of experiments were done, many ideas were tested, everything went great. The military began to show more and more attention to the institute. They sent in their assignments, and scientists had to train, for example, spectators to detect dangerous targets and the art of camouflage on the ground. Robots were taught to play hide and seek. One group of spectators looked for places to hide unnoticed, others carefully examined the area and found hiding by barely noticeable signs: crushed grass, broken branches, and so on.
These games, at the suggestion of military specialists, more and more resembled the training of scouts. The robots played with enthusiasm, their BAC received a huge number of positive signals. The tasks were set harder and harder. Increasingly, robots were hiding so ingeniously that the search group could not find rivals for a long time. Once the search dragged on until late in the evening - the last robot could not be found. Others, who have already been found, were doing their favorite things.
In the group of spectators, the specializations of robots differed slightly. Some were in the mood for drawing - they sat and made sketches of their impressions for the day. Others wandered around and looked around - they were looking for everything new and interesting. One robot spotter stood for a long time behind the operator of the video surveillance system and watched what was happening on the monitor. It displayed pictures from several surveillance cameras. Suddenly he bent down and pointed to the screen. The operator did not immediately understand what the robot was pointing at. When I looked more closely, I saw the barely noticeable sparks of the eyes of a robot hiding in the bushes and buried in stones.
And the robot, who noticed this, was already in a hurry somewhere. He walked past all the operators, looked at their monitors, then went out into the street and began to examine the surveillance cameras. But no one paid attention to this curiosity then.
The next day there were new experiments. The spectators studied very well, they literally absorbed everything new. They looked at everything from insects to clouds in the sky. They seemed to be interested in any new information. They even started to show interest in books, especially I liked reading books with pictures and looking at photographs. After receiving new information, they tried to copy what they saw. A laboratory was allocated, where they made models of everything they liked from a variety of materials.
Soon there were so many handicrafts that it was possible to arrange a whole exhibition. What was not there! And models of different insects, and sculptures, and various paintings. Later, moving models of beetles began to appear, robots learned to make very small mechanisms. Some scholars even joked:
- If it goes like this, they will blow a flea.
And then the military came again and began their exercises. This time, robots that were quickly found were punished - locked up in a dark room so that their visual sensors would not enjoy themselves. In this way, they wanted to stimulate their ability to better disguise. And the robots learned, experimented with paints, painted in khaki colors. They came up with a chameleon paint and could already merge with any terrain. Then the military decided to change the stick to the carrot. They showed robots a very beautiful film about nature - “Paradise Island”. Then they announced that one robot, which would hide the best at the next exercise, would be taken to this wonderful place so that it could live there for several days and consider everything. The robots' eyes lit up. The next teaching was scheduled seven days later. All week robots prepared like never before,made various means of disguise and were very passionate about the process. And now the week has passed. The robots went to hide …
… And all the spectators disappeared. Having studied the location of surveillance cameras and their mode of operation, they learned to walk unnoticed through areas where there were no cameras. This incident caused a lot of noise, the missing robots were searched for in helicopters throughout the district. The whole day went in search, but not a single robot was found. The robots have mastered the camouflage perfectly. Search teams combed the surrounding forest and did not even find a trace of them. On the second day of the search, three kilometers from the institute, on the bank of the river, a drawing of a butterfly, made of small colored stones, was discovered. There were no traces of robots in the area. A day later, in another place, on a large smooth stone, a very beautiful drawing of a robot was found. The hide and seek game dragged on.
The search for spotting robots has reached a dead end. Already started thinking about their abduction. The idea came to Ivanov, now he was a senior researcher and headed a group working with sound specialists.
- Colleagues, let's involve sound specialists in the search. Since we can't see them, maybe we can hear them? And yet, the spectators are hiding from people, and maybe they will not hide from other robots?
The sound engineers were tasked with learning to detect the movement of other robots by sound. Robots, unlike humans, moved very quietly: they did not breathe, did not sniff, and generally made very little noise. After the disappearance of the spectators, all the robots were equipped with beacons that could always be used to determine their location. The sound people very quickly learned to play the game "find a robot".
The game was as follows: one half of the sound robots were given pistols that shoot paintball-like balls. Instead of paint, the balls contained special glue and an electronic tag beacon. Thus, the sound engineer, hearing the movement of another robot, fired at the sound and marked the enemy. The first group was called "night guards", they were placed in a large hangar, which contained various equipment. The lights in the hangar were turned off, and the second group of robotic sound engineers had to go through the hangar to the opposite exit so quietly that the guards did not find them. The guards very quickly learned how to mark intruders, and they finally decided to release them in search of spectators.
In the evening, the “night guards” were taken in different directions from the institute, so that they would go back during the night and look for the missing spectators. Each had its own sector and its own markers. The movement of each robot was monitored by an operator, a sector map was displayed on the monitor, and the movement of the robot's beacon was well tracked. If a new robot is marked, its beacon will also appear on the screen. The whole night was spent in front of the monitors. The “night guards” had almost returned and were approaching the institute, but they did not find a single spectator.
The director of the institute, Sergei Sergeevich, was very exhausted by this search. He drank another cup of strong coffee, opened the second pack of cigarettes that night and sat lost in thought. He understood that the military, with their experiments, would continue to try to make ideal soldiers out of robots. The story of the spectators showed that robots are able to learn very quickly and that they are able to come up with their own rules in the game. And in combination with military training, this could lead to dangerous consequences. It was necessary to figure out how to isolate the robots from the military and continue the experiment in a peaceful manner.
And the sound specialists were already making their way through the territory of the institute. They did not find a single spectator for the whole night. Once a night there was an alarm, a tag went off, a group of military men immediately left for the site, but they did not find the robot. The mark moved across the monitor, the group heard footsteps, but no one was visible. It was like looking for some invisible being. When they approached the mark almost point-blank, they found a cute hedgehog, which one of the robots decided to mark.
The hangar was the gathering point for a group of "night guards". Almost the entire group has already returned. One sound engineer got stuck somewhere on the territory of the institute. He stood motionless in the warehouse area. Long-range cameras were sent to the place where the robot was standing to see what was happening there. The robot stood for a long time and listened. Then he began to move slowly, as if he was afraid to frighten someone away. So he walked around the territory of the institute for a long time. Cameras tracked his movement, but there was no one else in the frame. No one was observed in the neighboring cells either.
- And your sound guy has gone crazy? - Asked Colonel Rzhevsky from the military group.
Then the robot, as if having heard these words, stopped near the tree and stretched out his hands up. In this position, he froze.
- Well, is he praying? We still lacked robotic monks. - Rzhevsky continued his monologue.
- Give a close-up !!! - This is already shouted by Ivanov.
The operator pointed the camera and brought the robot closer.
- Higher, higher, higher than your hands, slowly raise the camera!
The close-up camera went over the robot, up its arms and continued to move higher and higher. There was already a tree, branches and leaves in the frame.
- Now slower! - Commanded Ivanov.
The camera very slowly climbed up the branches of the tree.
- Stop! Look carefully! What is it?
- Where? Here are some leaves! There is no robot here.
- Yes, here, on the right in the corner of the screen, a butterfly! - Ivanov has already shown on the screen.
A large butterfly was sitting there, nothing seemed unusual, its color was strange. She was green. No one has ever met such green butterflies.
For a couple of hours, all the scientists were catching a butterfly. Rzhevsky remained at the monitor and laughed at the scientists who ran with the nets - it looked very funny.
- Hey, nerds! Come in on the right!
- She's attacking you, lie down! - He shouted over the radio.
In the end, the butterfly was caught. It turned out to be a live surveillance camera with wings. A video camera was built into the butterfly, it was radio-controlled. The source of the control signal was found by the radio frequency at which the butterfly worked. The signal came from an abandoned warehouse where various rubbish was collected. The warehouse was cordoned off by the military, They were already going to conduct an operation to clean up the warehouse.
Ivanov approached the warehouse, took the speakerphone from the colonel and said:
- Spectators, you have coped with the task. Not one, but your whole group will go to the paradise. Come on, you did a good job.
From the dark warehouse, robots slowly appeared like shadows. They walked very pleased with themselves, and over their heads several green butterflies circled. Later it turned out that these butterflies helped robots to see everything that was happening on the territory of the institute. They were the eyes of spectators, and robots, comfortably settled in a dark and abandoned warehouse, continued to explore the world around them with the help of their butterfly eyes. They studied our ways of finding, they hid and studied at the same time. They also dreamed of getting to a paradise island.
End of the second part.
To be continued…
Artificial Intelligence. Caution robots. Part I
