3.3 million years ago, man created what was a milestone for mankind: the first tools. They had sharp edges that looked simple but were great for cutting objects and digging holes. Although it is not known exactly how and when this happened, the transition from knowing how to use tools to learning how to build tools is considered to be a very large cognitive leap, likely requiring keen imagination and logical thinking. It is the most important difference between humans and animals. And that is what distinguishes humans from robots today. At least for now.
Unveiling some of the mysteries of human consciousness in order to improve the capabilities of robots is the goal of Metatool, a project that combines archaeology, neuroscience and robotics and is led by the Spaniard Pablo Lanillos from the Donders Institute for Cognition (Netherlands) and Ricardo Sanz is directed by the Institute for Cognition (Donders Institute for Cognition) Politecnico University of Madrid. The aim is to study the surveillance ability of the human brain, metacognition, in order to improve the capabilities of robots. The ultimate goal for the future is that they will be able to invent new tools like our ancestors did. A total of seven scientific institutions and European companies are involved in the project, which is funded with a contribution of €4 million from the European Innovation Council over a period of four years.
Lanillos, scientific coordinator of the project, explains that metacognition is the human function to measure whether a task can be performed or not, to evaluate whether what is produced is successful and whether it has an impact on the world has. The classic example is hunting: since man was unable to hunt animals with his hands, he tried using stones. “We can also understand it with food. If I want to keep them and they don’t fit in my hands, I can build a basket,” explains the specialist who invented Tiago, the first robot able to recognize itself in a mirror. In general, it involves understanding an external problem and imagining an object to solve it.
A similar effect as with Metatool is the creation of images and videos from texts with artificial intelligence. “They create new faces, what we call generative models. You can also have a generative model that invents a tool,” explains Lanillos as an example. In robotics, however, it is a much more complex phenomenon, since it requires an “intelligence of the body” in which the abilities always depend on a physical matter that interacts with the external environment.
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Today’s robots are designed to follow rules, precisely and usually at scale, depending on what their code says. However, they cannot spontaneously adapt and create something that does not exist. With a better understanding of brain function, that could change. The scientific coordinator clarifies that the term consciousness used to describe this new ability of robots does not have the deepest meaning, but is something simple. “You realize that you can’t do a task and you can do it better with an object,” he says. Consciencia in this context is the translation of the word “consciousness” and not its phenomenological aspect, which would be “consciousness” in English (in Spanish both words are translated as “consciencia”).
“We don’t reproduce consciousness because we don’t understand it and don’t know how to do it. Also because we don’t need it. We want safe robots that can be at home.”
Therefore, the research does not pursue the development of an artificial consciousness, but takes inspiration from brain processes to improve what currently exists in the robotics market. “We don’t reproduce consciousness (in the broadest sense) because we don’t understand it and don’t know how to do it. Also because we don’t need it. “What we want are safe robots that are able to be at home,” explains the expert, adding that it will never be possible to have human consciousness in a robot until there is full understanding of it , which is far from being discovered by the scientific community. They state that at Metatool they are aware of the ethical dimensions that the project may entail and Lanillos ensures that they have an expert in ethics so that the development of such technologies can be appropriately communicated to society.
Metattool project consortium, at the kick-off meeting at the Polytechnic University of Madrid in October 2022.Metatool
As Lanillos explains, this is initial research for laboratory applications: “At the end of the four years, it’s about having a demo for technology companies and for the general public, where we show how a robot can invent a tool.” Another goal is to help archaeologists, neuroscientists and psychologists understand the evolution and changes in the human brain over time.
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