A naive assumption about the subject of robotics and Artificial Intelligence is, that this powerful technology will result into a technological revolution known as singularity. Human labor will be replaced by robots and AI software allows to translate between different languages. This understanding is ignoring attempts of the past to realize such projects. In the lab, it's not very complicated to develop robots who can do every task and program advanced neural networks. The problem is, that none of these projects can be converted into meaningful products.
So the question is, what an alternative description of AI looks like. Something which comes close to a realistic description is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_stupidity The idea is, that AI related projects producing a failure as default and it's not possible to build robots which are useful. All attempts of selling robots to the customer results into joke article. A joke article is a product, which has no dedicated purpose but is trying to amuse the user.
Another term used by amazon to sell such products is “squeeze toy”. The idea is that a certain hardware has no dedicated purpose, but it looks only funny but can't be used for real purposes. Advanced robotics fulfills these criteria. It's surprisingly easy to create an advanced robot with the help of the ROS robot control system. The robot is using a camera, can walk like a human and is even able to grasp objects. The more elaborated task is to find a practical application for the robot. The device has no purpose at all and this is a bit of surprise, because the common assumption is, that an advanced robot can be used everywhere: in the kitchen, in the factory, in the retail store or in the library.
What is important to mention is, that not robotics has failed, but to use these technology for practical applications. If the advanced robot is described as a joke product which doesn't have a purpose, the customer gets exactly what he has paid for: a device without a purpose. The robot will be interesting to observe and nobody is trying to use it in reality.
The English dictionary has a term for a useless product. It's called a prank toy or a practical joke toy. The idea is, that the customer pays 20 US$ for a plastic product, which doesn't provide added value but is used as a running gag during a birthday party. Using a praktical joke for improving the productivity in the office or in the econmy in general won't work. Because the toy was never designed for that purpose. Exactly this property is available for robots and Artificial Intelligence too. It's the same kind of nonsense technology which is interesting to investigate but provides no meaning at all.
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