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I can't help but think that AI plus robotics is going to have pest control sewn up in the not too distant future, rendering these chemical brute force attacks l

by hanoz 7y ago

I can't help but think that AI plus robotics is going to have pest control sewn up in the not too distant future, rendering these chemical brute force attacks largely redundant.

coldtea 7y ago
Or rather we'd just have to live with the roaches, and the high-tech solutions will be remembered like the personal robotic assistants and flying cars promised in the 60s...
_jal 7y ago
That is assuming AI + robotics does not become the next major pest infestation.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
andrewl 7y ago
I've wondered about that. Could small crawling robots, perhaps 3-inches long, be built to roam around houses and inside walls and under sinks and so on to seek out and kill cockroaches and other household pests? I doubt anything can develop resistance to being torn apart by a robot. The answer is probably that it could be done now, or fairly soon. Whether it would be economical is another question entirely. But I don't like the idea of spraying chemicals around my house. Robots would be non-toxic. Perhaps in the future every building will have a fleet of tiny robots roaming around functioning like macrophages. Maybe iRobot could come up with something.
- tsss 7y ago
  Fairly soon? We're barely getting man-sized robots that can open doors and walk over stairs. You would need thousands of much better robots that can not only walk more difficult terrain but also navigate and search completely autonomously and pursue at a high speed (some cockroaches can even fly) while having enough strength to crush them.
  - andrewl 7y ago
    You're probably right, I'm too optimistic. Perhaps the better model is army ants, or driver ants. I read they will sweep through a village and kill or drive out roaches, spiders, mice, and other vermin. The human inhabitants welcome them. Like all ants and termites, they're individually dumb, but the colony can accomplish a lot. So maybe the answer is thousands of one-inch crawling robots which bite anything that moves.
- jawns 7y ago
  > I doubt anything can develop resistance to being torn apart by a robot. True, but resistance is not the only evolutionary adaptation available. For instance, behavioral adaptations might make them more difficult for robots to capture.

by hanoz 7y ago

I can't help but think that AI plus robotics is going to have pest control sewn up in the not too distant future, rendering these chemical brute force attacks largely redundant.

coldtea 7y ago

Or rather we'd just have to live with the roaches, and the high-tech solutions will be remembered like the personal robotic assistants and flying cars promised in the 60s...

_jal 7y ago

That is assuming AI + robotics does not become the next major pest infestation.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

andrewl 7y ago

I've wondered about that. Could small crawling robots, perhaps 3-inches long, be built to roam around houses and inside walls and under sinks and so on to seek out and kill cockroaches and other household pests? I doubt anything can develop resistance to being torn apart by a robot. The answer is probably that it could be done now, or fairly soon. Whether it would be economical is another question entirely. But I don't like the idea of spraying chemicals around my house. Robots would be non-toxic. Perhaps in the future every building will have a fleet of tiny robots roaming around functioning like macrophages. Maybe iRobot could come up with something.

tsss 7y ago
Fairly soon? We're barely getting man-sized robots that can open doors and walk over stairs. You would need thousands of much better robots that can not only walk more difficult terrain but also navigate and search completely autonomously and pursue at a high speed (some cockroaches can even fly) while having enough strength to crush them.
- andrewl 7y ago
  You're probably right, I'm too optimistic. Perhaps the better model is army ants, or driver ants. I read they will sweep through a village and kill or drive out roaches, spiders, mice, and other vermin. The human inhabitants welcome them. Like all ants and termites, they're individually dumb, but the colony can accomplish a lot. So maybe the answer is thousands of one-inch crawling robots which bite anything that moves.
jawns 7y ago
> I doubt anything can develop resistance to being torn apart by a robot. True, but resistance is not the only evolutionary adaptation available. For instance, behavioral adaptations might make them more difficult for robots to capture.