It looks like all those films about robots taking over the world are about to come true. Maybe. A robot in New York has passed a classic riddle that is supposed to test self awareness.
The puzzle goes: The King called the three wisest men in the country to his court to decide who would become his new advisor. He placed a hat on each of their heads, such that each wise man could see all of the other hats, but none of them could see their own. Each hat was either white or blue. The king gave his word to the wise men that at least one of them was wearing a blue hat — in other words, there could be one, two, or three blue hats, but not zero.
The king also announced that the contest would be fair to all three men. The wise men were also forbidden to speak to each other. The king declared that whichever man stood up first and announced the color of his own hat would become his new advisor. Scientists at the Ransselaer Polytechnic Institute adapted it for three robots.
Two were told they had been given a “dumbing pill” which prevented them from talking before all three were asked which one was still able to speak. All three initially couldn’t solve the problem. But when one of the robots heard its own voice it said: “Sorry, I know now!” However, as we can assume that all three robots were coded the same, technically, all three have passed this self-awareness test.
Human-like abilities: It might sound a pretty simple task for a human, but it's not for a robot— the bot must listen to and understand the question, then hear their own voice saying “I don’t know” and recognise it as distinct from another robot’s voice, then connect that with the original question to conclude that they hadn’t been silenced.
Logical puzzles requiring an element of self-awareness like this are essential in building robots that can understand their role in society. By passing many tests of this type, it’s hoped robots will be able to build up a group of human-like abilities that become useful when combined.
Source: www.in.techradar.com
