Robots recruited to strive for UN's receding global goals
Dozens of robots, including several humanoid ones, will appear at a conference organised by the UN technology agency in Switzerland this week to showcase their potential to help reach a series of increasingly improbable global goals.
A day ahead of the conference on Wednesday, members of the media were given a preview of some of the robots that will be showcased and where up to 5,000 people are expected to attend over the coming days.
Fixed in 2015, the UN's 17 Sustainable Developments Goals(SDGs) aim to improve human life and the planet by 2030 but are now widely perceived as a long shot.
Among the robot stars of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) event are those with caregiving skills such as 'Nadine', a social robot who simulates emotions and remembers people, who can play bingo with retirement home residents.
Another is a collaborative robot '4NE-1' that can handle industrial tasks and improve the efficiency of manufacturing.
A panel of robots is due to appear before journalists on Friday (July 7) in the world's first human-robot press conference.
UN agencies are already using AI such as the World Food Programme's HungerMap project which pulls together data to identify areas sliding towards hunger. It is also developing remote-controlled trucks to deliver emergency aid in danger zones.
The World Health Organization is working on a benchmarking system to ensure the accuracy of AI disease diagnoses.
The ITU brings together 193 countries and over 900 organisations including universities and companies like Huawei Technologies and Google. It allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits and is involved with setting standards for artificial intelligence.
Reuters
