The Science of Giant Combiner Robots

"No, I don't thank you for the fish at all" (notindetroit) 06/20/2015 at 22:21 • Filed to: robolopnik, artificial intelligence, ai, transformers, singularity, ray kurzweil

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If a transforming robot is cooler than a regular robot, then what’s cooler than a transforming robot? !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! So how can we make that happen, and if so, what would happen?

The Physical Bits of Combining

This might seem like the hardest part, but depending on what you’re doing this is actually the easy stuff. It’s a big long engineering problem and like all engineering solutions is going to be approached as a study of “best compromises” depending on what performance targets you need to hit. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , it’s just a matter of figuring out how they can combine to form an even bigger robot.

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The Software of Combining

The software side can be easy or tricky depending on how complicated you want it to be (just a glorified R/C toy with someone behind a control pad or full-on artificial intelligence). Since full A.I. robots are more fun than “dumb” ones and since the Transformers themselves are fully independent A.I.s let’s assume some sort of sophisticated software semblance from code we’ve figured out to write.

The actual act of linking the software together is once again pretty easy. As the robots are physically combining anyway it’s a pretty simple matter to, say, incorporate USB links or even do it wirelessly. Perhaps the most sophisticated networking infrastructure on the planet is a little thing called !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! which is designed to allow the U.S. military to communicate with any node that’s Link 16-compatible and transfer comparatively prodigious amounts of digital information - for example, if a fighter plane detects an enemy formation that information can be spread to a wide variety of relevant allied parties instantly instead of having the pilot verbally radio it in. It’s doubtful Link 16 has enough bandwidth to accommodate an artificial intelligence, but it certainly can facilitate real-time linking and communication between artificial intelligences, and as most U.S. fighter jets have Link 16 capability you’d think a giant robot would be able to take advantage of it as well.

Or forget the linking altogether - just code the robot software to designate a specific dominant software or intelligence from one of the component robots as the control for the combined robot, or even write a new artificial intelligence that would activate when the robots are combined (and deactivate and remain dormant when disassembled back into its disparate individual components). But that’s not really fun isn’t it? It’s much more interesting to think of what would happen if individual and true artificial intelligences were to combine and then somehow interact as a single unit. Would it be a Star Trek Borg-like hive mind? Would an entirely new personality and thus a distinct and unique individual emerge?

Believe it or Not, Scientists Have Put Real Thought Into This

One of those scientists is a guy named !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . An early pioneer in hardware, software and digital engineering he is currently considered one of the leading experts in the development of artificial intelligence. His thoughts and predictions on artificial intelligence and how A.I. will behave have been collected into his book !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which I’ve partially read (it’s a 1,000+ page tome, not exactly something you can knock out on a transcontinental flight).

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As far as relevance to a giant combined robot, Kurzweil predicts that combining several artificial intelligences into a single artificial intelligence (and restoring them back into their disparate consciousnesses) is doable, and given time will be perfected to be made easy. In fact, Kurzweil predicts that artificial intelligences will be able to combine with human intelligence to form a single consciousness and back (and likewise, humans will be able to combine and separate consciousness with each other as well). The idea of combining artificial and human intelligence to form a new distinct personality/individual is something that’s been explored in various posthuman and singularity-type fiction, including one of the most well-known Japanese animated sci-fi movies out there, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , considered one of the most classic examples of A.I./singularity-specific cyberpunk.

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So, at least according to Kurzweil, what would happen if two intelligences, artificial or not, combine? He’s pretty sure that the event will be tantamount to the birth of a new sentient individual - and just as you can’t predict what your own child will be like decades from now, it’s hard to predict what the traits of that individual will be. For example (and barring specific coding or software forcing a predetermined course), there’s no guarantee that a giant combined robot made up of a bunch of smaller female robots will in turn identify as female, male, or anything at all. Without any in-built coding restrictions and left entirely to the whims of free will, there’s no guarantee that Devastator would decided that maybe smashing Autobots isn’t in it for him and teams up with Optimus instead, even if his individual components still remain fiercely loyal to Megatron. There’s no easy way to predict how smart or dumb or what aptitudes such an intelligence would have, and it’s simply not correct to say that somehow it will be a mirror or aggregate of the individuals making up the whole. As a freshly birthed individual, that intelligence will simply be the product of just how things work out. The only way to be sure would be to find out for real.

Nobi > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 07:39

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Just don't give it testicles.

TriggerTX > Nobi 06/21/2015 at 11:34

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You didn’t think it really classed up the whole movie?

Clouds > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 11:47

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Devastator....

r31ya > Nobi 06/21/2015 at 11:50

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“Just don’t give it testicles.”

Aired as sunday morning cartoon/Hero-time by the way.

Justin T. Westbrook > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 12:18

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Foxtrot Alpha, circa 2041 A.D.

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Doctor-G-and-the-wagen > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 13:50

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Just give Japan enough time and maybe a serious case of dinosaurs/space invaders.

Just Cars for Joe Bryant > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 14:21

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The twins were the best transformers of the entire Bay series.

The doctoR53 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 14:41

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Ok it was Someone in a rubber suit. But still epic

e36-burger-lord > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 15:45

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The Bay Devastator sucks ass...literally.

Dake > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 21:37

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IDW has actually addressed the “software” issues with combiners in the current run of comics - it’s a pretty interesting way to handle it (and it differs amongst the teams).

Splorg McGillicuddy > The doctoR53 06/21/2015 at 22:50

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Oh my... Shogun Warrior. Going to date myself, but I had the toy when I was a kid.

GrauGeist > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/21/2015 at 23:15

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Considering how we have functional PC Clusters of otherwise independent computers, and we have teams of people, I don’t see the issue of combining sentient robots into a functional gestalt.

The doctoR53 > Splorg McGillicuddy 06/22/2015 at 06:20

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I had the one that was the white tiger combined with the dinosaur zords

Plecostomus is a starred commenter > Doctor-G-and-the-wagen 06/22/2015 at 11:30

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So these are the assholes that fucked up the world before Big-O and left all the weird giant robots behind.

Doctor-G-and-the-wagen > Plecostomus is a starred commenter 06/22/2015 at 12:00

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More like the entire universe

Kayone74 > r31ya 06/22/2015 at 14:15

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Tokyuuger still gets the big :facepalm: to me

Kayone74 > No, I don't thank you for the fish at all 06/22/2015 at 14:16

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This thread needs more of the real Devastator

Kayone74 > Dake 06/22/2015 at 14:20

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IDW Predaking FTW

Even tho the Predacons are classically a 5 man team, they recently have introduced a ‘sixth’ member, who can swap in for one of the arms, and according to continuity, this slightly changes the personality of the gestalt depending on which 5 members are making up the giant