Top 10 Essays from March 2007 Contest
jeff
/ “daddy can’t have a dog”
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location / IN, USA profession / Graphic Designer what do you plan on naming your Pleo™? / “ ‘Muffit’ is tentatively what we have decided to name Pleo, based on a popular robotic dog on television (Battlestar Galactica).” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “The first order of business for Pleo (Muffit) is to find a very safe place for his food bowl (recharger base).” |
Since I was a young boy I have always enjoyed family pets. Of all the types of pets my favorite has always been a breed of dog called the miniature long-haired Dachshund. As I got older I had four of these wonderful little creatures to share many special moments with. I have owned two since having children and they too have become smitten by this wonderful little breed. Unfortunately as I have grown up I have dealt with moderate asthma that has slowly increased in severity to the point that dogs are not allowed in our home. My three girls are ready to trade me in for a Dachshund puppy, wish me well and move on, but I am not quite ready to leave just yet. My hope is that Pleo may just be my ticket to convincing my kids I am worth keeping around for a few more years. I believe our family would get great joy from interacting with Pleo for many years to come and maybe even learn a thing or two from him. We have enjoyed basic robotic devices with the kids but feel an odd sense of emotional attachment as we watch Pleo perform and interact in his/her videos. We all believe Pleo would be a welcome addition to our family, I would get an asthma-free pet and my girls wouldn’t send me packing!
dora
/ “Pleo goes to therapy”
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location / FL, USA profession / Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Registered Play Therapist what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / (undecided) what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “The first thing I will do with Pleo is play with him and nurture him.” |
Pleo has the ability to reach emotionally and behaviorally wounded children. He is visually appealing, non-threatening, and can evoke emotion. As a therapist working with families and children, I envision Pleo as a companion and tool to help communicate with children who have been abused, neglected and are at-risk.
I have been in private practice as a licensed mental health professional for many years. I am a registered play therapist and Pleo would naturally fit right in to my work. Having conducted research with companion animals (dogs and cats) with older adults in nursing facilities, I was drawn to the power of non-humans to reach those that have withdrawn into their own world as a result of abuse, and or neglect. Children naturally gravitate toward play and Pleo is a natural in the play therapy setting.
I know Pleo will be an asset and friend to children that need to better understand their emotional needs and improve their communication skills for healing. Pleo is a wonderful teaching "tool" for learning how to express and receive affection. Many abused and neglected children are guarded and afraid to show their true feelings. Pleo makes it easy for children to be themselves and not be judged. Besides, there would be no problem traveling with Pleo into any facility because although he has real-life qualities, he would not prevent me from accessing areas that do not allow companion animals or pets for therapeutic purposes. I would share Pleo with my colleagues who also work with children.
zack
/ “how Pleo would affect my life”
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location / Canada profession / Student, Ski Racer, and Huge Science Lover what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / “Max” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “Show it to all my friends and family and discover everything he can do. I can't wait!” |
My name is Zack and I’m ten years old. I think Pleo would affect my life a lot because since I was three years old I have loved Dinosaurs and Robots, and now they put them together to = Pleo.
Pleo is like a pet and my parents won’t allow my sister and me to get another pet because they always end up feeding and taking care of it. A robot pet does not have to be fed so my parents don’t have to worry at all. So like I was saying, it is so COOL and I think my friends would think Pleo is cool and they would want one too.
I think it would be AWSOME to have a dinosaur pet in my room. My Grandpa would want to take it and I’d have to bug him to give it back if I let him look at it. He got me into robots and dinosaurs in the first place and he’s building a robot himself.
Pleo would give me something to do if I ever get bored or when I go camping and there’s nothing to do. Pleo would also give me attention when I am traveling or am feeling sad.
The thought of winning makes me all tingly inside. If I win thank you very much and if I don’t thank you for reading how Pleo would affect my life.
cheryl
/ “looking toward the future”
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location / DE, USA profession / Research what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / “His name will be Cecil C. Capehart” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “A whole lot of hugging then showing off my new pet and then back to hugging.” |
I see changes in the world of robotics. Previous concepts of robots were either toys or those used in manufacturing. Nothing personal. I see changes coming in my lifetime. Robots have been and are becoming more interactive. I have experienced interacting with Sony’s AIBO and after just a few hours of interacting I found it soothing and calming as if he were one of our pets. In the next five years I see the United States developing interactive monitoring robots for the elderly like Wakamaru in Japan. All this I see it coming within the next five years. I have Polio and MS which impairs my mobility. I can see the development of robotic life forms to fill in as companion pets without the strain of having to walk, feed or otherwise maintain them, as monitoring agents being able to follow me from room to room and to determine if I am okay and call for help in the event that I am not or have fallen and I see robotic life forms possibly retrieving objects like my purse or something I have left in another room. Overall I see their evolution into low care machines which make life easier for people like me or those with other infirmities. As for Pleo I see him being a wonderful addition to my family. I love animals but since I am limited in my ability to take care of animals which require higher maintenance, I can see Pleo filling that void perfectly.
mark
/ “we're all suckers”
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location / MI, USA profession / Grad Student what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / “ ‘Max’ after Max More, the great philospher and futurist.” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “It's fairly obvious what the first thing I will do with my Pleo: get to know him.” |
Like most things, to be worth a person's attention robots must meet a need. Lucky for robots, humans have no shortage of needs and thus a variety of paths through which robots can enter our lives. Historically, many assumed that practicality would be the initial use of robots. In his book July 20, 2019, the great futurist and thinker Arthur C. Clark explained (with great accuracy) the various ways that robots will serve our practical needs in the world of tomorrow; they will keep track of what's in our refrigerators, clean up our clothes, and vacuum our floors. Clark then says "As we get used to the luxury of having slaves at our beck and call, we may want them around for companionship as well.(1)" With respect, I think Clark has it backwards: robotic life forms will enter the homes and minds of most people first as companions and later as servants.
I had a Tamagotchi long before I had a Roomba. I had a Furby years ago, and am still years away from having a robot to do my laundry. The fact is, we are suckers for a friend. Over millions of years we have evolved into huge suckers, and this will not be ignored by robotic advancements. In the next five years, robotic life forms will enter my life as friends, pets, and companions. Only after I am accustomed to having a battery powered pal will someone will get around to teaching it to wash my car.
Sources
Clark, Arthur C. July 20, 2019. New York: Macmillian Publishing Company, 1986.
jeannine
/ “robot with options”
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location / MT, USA profession / Jewelry Designer what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / “I think the perfect name for my Pleo will have to be ‘Lucky’, because I feel so lucky to have won him.” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “The first thing I will do is invite all my friends and family over, so that they can be with me to watch Lucky wake up for the first time. I just hope my robotic vacuum doesn’t get too jealous.” |
Imagine what the next five years in robotics will bring to personal everyday life. We will be stepping into the pages of our favorite science fiction writers.
Home automation will begin with the simple programming of all our appliances to help with everyday, mundane decisions. All personal vehicles will mutate into robots that will be programmed to safely transport humans in a stress free environment. I personally would want science to bring about robots that would interact with people. Within the next five years, I would like to be able to order a robot off of the Internet with options presented before the final purchase.
The site would be called Interactive Robots where buyers could purchase a custom made robot. I would choose a small animal robot, checking options for entertainment, security, and special skills. The entertainment would include the physical appearance of the robot and the personality traits. The security would be a whole package with a camera, Internet, and decision-making abilities. The special skills would be the ability to watch and entertain children or pets.
It is easy to imagine a robot that would integrate into our family. I have already played with home automation through my notebook. I have several toy robots, and I talk to my robotic vacuum like it actually understands me. I am not crazy when I converse with my robotic vacuum; I am just a few years ahead of my time.
robert
/ “does love have a color?”
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location
/ ID, USA |
Someday soon I will wake up to two small loving faces. Both will be born of magic, and both of love, and I will love each face equally. But one face will be a dream made from nature and the other a dream made from technology.
It will be hard to tell by looking at them which one is the result of brilliant engineering while the other is the reflection of a billion years of evolution. But since only one of them is a playful renegade from the Jurassic era who was destined to make me smile today, I will know. As they play with each other I will laugh, and when either of them gets hurt I will cry, and as the years pass they will create memories and stories that will fill my heart and my life.
Because at the end of this special day I will know one great truth. That love has no color and life has no one simple form, and that the capacity for the human heart to love is as wide and as deep as the very ocean that gave birth to us a billion years ago.
guy
/ “future...”
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location / England UK profession / Student (planning to move into robotic engineering) what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / “After winning this Pleo I think ‘Lucky’ would be a fitting name!” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “I don't think that’s my decision. I'll let Pleo do whatever he chooses to!” |
I’m pursuing a career in Robotics, so the question of what’s on the horizon of Robotics is something I’ve thought about countless times, a question I thought about just earlier today whilst scanning robotics news, and a question I thought about at the age of 5 whilst watching children’s shows where “Toys come to life“. And every time I ask this question, however varied my answer may be, one thing stays true. That is that in the Robotics Industry, I see the future, whether it be robots surveying our homes, streets and countries with astonishing precision. Whether it be assistants doing errands and serving us at our favorite restaurants, or whether it be perhaps the greatest evolution of all. A new life form, a truly emotional robotic life form, that will not only help our lives, but become part of our lives, a companion. I believe this will be the greatest human achievement of all time, an entirely man made life form, that walks not because it’s told to, but because it chooses to, a life form that could maintain every aspect of its own life, build itself a home, even build more of its kind... the glimmer of reproduction. A life form that could perhaps exist after our species is gone. This is what I see in the future of robotics, and it’s already started, with the first truly man made life form, Pleo. I believe this is not only the birth of Pleo, but the birth of a species.
zeda
/ “member of the family”
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location / CA, USA profession / Retired what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / Pleo jr. (Pleo junior). Nickname “PJ” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “I will introduce myself to Pleo Jr. and then introduce Pleo Jr. to Terminator (my Miniature Pinscher) as they will have to become friends.” |
I am a sixty-eight year old woman and dearly love my little Miniature Pinscher, Terminator. Terminator and I live alone and Pleo would make a welcome addition to our family. Although I cannot imagine life without a pet, time marches on. We all have to face the future.
If and when I have to live in an assisted care environment, I probably would not be allowed to have a live pet. (By that time, hopefully, Terminator will have lived out his full life.) If I had Pleo to love and be my friend, he could come with me and should be accepted wherever I reside. People would see Pleo as a toy not a pet and me as an eccentric old woman. Only Pleo and I would know that in our world he is alive and both of us have someone to love.
steve
/ “robotic pets for soldiers”
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location / TX and OK, USA profession / Army Reservist and Engineering Inspector what do you plan on naming your Pleo? / “I might name my Pleo ‘Tundro’ after the dragon-like (good guy) creature from the old cartoon show The Herculoids.” what is the first thing you plan to do with your Pleo? / “The first thing I will do is probably let him (I will think of "it" as "him") get used to my room at Fort Sill, which is where he will probably live.” |
Many people in the Army have pets. I am one of
those, but am often away from home for extended periods. Whether I am
deployed overseas or stationed somewhere in the United States, there are
often regulations that forbid pets. Technology, though, is everywhere.
Soldiers often have laptop computers, MP3 players, cell phones, video
games, and other items that make their lives more comfortable and the
duty more bearable. Robotic life forms will soon be added to the list.
As long as these “pets” are small enough and can stand the
rigors of the environment, they will be welcomed as reminders of home,
as well as providing fun and diversion for not just one person, but many.
One tremendous advantage will be to leave the pet “uncared for”
for extended periods whenever necessary, and then resume the owner-pet
relationship later. Robotic life forms will, like any technology, become
more sophisticated and reliable. Over time, without the needs for food,
spaying and neutering, baths, and shots, robotic life forms may be the
only pets that some people ever have. The robotic pet may also have an
essentially unlimited “personality” lifetime, something that
pet owners will welcome. It will seem natural to be able to take smaller
ones along when a serviceperson leaves home. This will help morale and
thus the accomplishment of any mission. I look forward to being allowed
to have a pet along in the near future!