MiRo co-creator and founder, Sebastian Conran shares his views on today’s unmet need in coding and robotics, read on to learn more.

Truth is, being a successful inventor, designer, or entrepreneur is about being able to spot the ‘unknown unmet need’. The creator of the production assembly line and first mass-produced car, Henry Ford once famously quipped: “If I asked my customers what they wanted; they would have said a faster horse”. Ford Motor Company went on to produce over 15,000,000 Model T automobiles.

Wanting to fly like a bird had always been one of man’s greatest dreams - a ‘known unmet need’ as it were. The breakthrough in flight came when Wilbur and Orville Wright and others demonstrated that the best form of propulsion for a heavier-than-air vehicle was to use a propeller rather than flapping wings. This produced better lift when they were static. The propeller fan and the lifting effect of curved wings were well known, but marrying them both to a combustion engine made all the difference - as it did with the Model T.

Another example of a well-known want is having a device for sewing clothes. Once a laborious task, Isaac Singer refined the sewing machine by realising that the secret was not to exactly replicate a seamstress’s single-thread approach, but to use two threads hooking up with each other. The sewing machine stitched in a different way to a human but produced a better and significantly more efficient result. The consequence - clothes were more affordable which in turn, boosted the cloth and garment industry.

Similarly, a dishwasher does not need a brush and a dishcloth, nor does a TV remote-control need twiddle knobs on the screen. They achieve the desired result not by replicating former methods, but by addressing the fundamental needs. Flying, sewing, and washing dishes are all based on a clearly understood need.

The digital world - AI and robotics technology

In 2007, Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, probably one of the most significant consumer products in my lifetime. What was the known unmet need it addressed? Wall street was unsure at the time, as it did not have the keypad of their Blackberry, but it is so much more than just a phone, now life without a smartphone is becoming increasingly difficult.

As we become more AI driven, the amount of AI coding for devices seems to be rising exponentially. The dull, repetitive tasks previously done on a car assembly line a century ago are now achieved by single-function robots. Car companies are now repositioning themselves as technology companies, where their products are increasingly more like robotic platforms that integrate with your smartphone, satellites, and the cloud. The average high-end car, such as the latest Mercedes Benz E class, requires ca.100 million lines of code in order for it to operate; compare that to the Mars Rover’s ca. 6m. or the Space shuttle with 0.4m. There is an interesting infographic on this: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/millions-lines-of-code/

Many companies, large or small have had to adapt quickly. Younger people joining the workforce are increasingly expected to have an understanding, if not the skills for coding. This extends to their managers and key people already in the workforce; they too, need to understand the basics of coding. We are not suggesting full fluency, but like languages, it is always useful when going to another country to understand the basics of the language. But what are the benefits for all of us in being able to code? Although you don’t need to understand how a car works in order to drive, it does help if you find yourself in a touch of bother to know how to fix the basics. If you are in the automotive business, to be able to converse relatively knowledgeably on technical topics.

Should robots replicate human actions?

There is a tendency for people to think that robots should replicate human actions in order to do set tasks such as flipping burgers with a robot arm and spatula, when there are many easier mechanical ways of achieving the same result. Perhaps there is an innate human desire to want robots to have people-like forms, but as the adage goes: ‘Form Follows Function’, and the way we do things is not necessarily the best - that’s why we have hand tools. Personally, I cannot see a logical rationale for humanoid robots; for one, we are far too complicated to replicate, and Form Follows ‘Fabrication’ too. The other is that humanoid robots will always disappoint when compared to a real person.

So, if the rationale is not to replicate nature with humanoid robots, what is the case for making MiRo look reminiscent of a small domestic mammal? There are several reasons for this. One is that humans are much more complicated than small animals (a Mouse’s DNA Genome base pair is ca.120 million, whereas a Human’s is over 3.3 billion) so our expectation of something that looks like a human is that it may behave at least like a human toddler. However, our expectations of something that looks like a cross between a puppy and a bunny are reasonably lower, so we can imitate nature more successfully. The other reason is that people are inherently wary of robots and things they don’t understand, but if something looks and behaves vaguely familiar, it will be more emotionally engaging. The key difference is that MiRo could be programmed to obey 20 voice commands, and that it can be trained to ring for help if it senses trouble. MiRo works because there is an innate human desire to teach a dog tricks and behaviours.

The unmet need in coding is to…

Encourage and enable people to learn the basics in coding. By developing MiRoCLOUD, the browser-based coding platform allows users to engage in the abstract activity of coding, view the tangible results through a MiRo avatar; and when they are happy with the result, run their coding onto a physical MiRo robotic platform.

When you start with programming MiRo using basic coding techniques (Blockly), and then move on to more sophisticated coding with Python, coding can seem less abstract and a bit more like ‘teaching a dog new tricks’. The emotionally engaging experience is also ideal for children who need to work remotely from class, and for employees that may need to learn the basics of coding and can work off the cloud remotely from their secure businesses server.

Sebastian Conran1.jpg — **POST AUTHOR**
Sebastian Conran, Co-founder and Product Designer, Consequential Robotics