Is Astro even Possible?

[Tetsuwan Penguin]

Osmau Tezuka created the character that would become Tetsuwan Atom in 1951 as a supporting character in a space based science fiction Manga. Robots had been around for quite awhile in science fiction prior to his story.

Isaac Asimov published his first robot stories in the 1940's, and he continued writing them throughout his life. He created the 3 laws of robotics (and later added a 4th "zeroth" law).

The word "robot" comes from the Czech word for worker and was coined by Karel Čapek in his play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), published in 1920. The idea of mechanical men goes much further back in history however. Quoting Wikipedia:

"The idea of automata originates in the mythologies of many cultures around the world. Engineers and inventors from ancient civilizations, including Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and Ptolemaic Egypt, attempted to build self-operating machines, some resembling animals and humans. Early descriptions of automata include the artificial doves of Archytas, the artificial birds of Mozi and Lu Ban, a "speaking" automaton by Hero of Alexandria, a washstand automaton by Philo of Byzantium, and a human automaton described in the Lie Zi." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot

Until the invention of the electronic digital computer, the idea of a machine that could think and be self aware was only a fantasy. The early mechanical designs of Charles Babbage if scaled up to a size required to even get close to mimicking the human brain would have been as large as a planet (to paraphrase Marvin). Isaac Asimov invented "positronics", a computer technology of the then future, as a way to put enough computing power into a small enough package to create his robots brains. The term was later used in the "Star Trek" TV show to explain the ship's advanced computers, and the technology in the android "Data".

Today, thanks to the micro miniaturization of computer circuits it may soon be possible to squeeze enough "MIPS" into a machine the size of a large textbook to pass the "Turing Test" (exhibit intelligent behaviour equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human). IBM's recent demonstration of their "Watson" computer was quite close to this point.

Humanoid sized robots with bipedal walking ability and hand eye coordination equal to that of a 9 year old child exist today, Honda's Asimo has advanced to this level and can play soccer with convincing agility. Interestingly, Asimo is just about the size that Tezuka envisioned Atom, standing about 4.5 feet tall. (Atom's height has been mentioned somewhere between 4 to 4.5 feet, or about 120-135cm).

Power, is another issue. Asimo is powered by a Li battery in his backpack that gives him about an hour or two operating time. I've found no mention of his 'horse power', but he probably has no more than 1/50,000 of Astro's by my estimation (2 HP is about 1500 Watts BTW, which means that Astro generates as much energy as a small power plant! It would take about 15 Astro's to generate as much power as FPL's Turkey Point nuclear plant).

Clearly there is no known way to build a robot with Astro's strength. Tezuka knew this, which is way he envisioned Atom as being powered by atomic energy. At the time that he first wrote the manga there was great hope for the future of atomic energy. Proponents of the power source claimed electricity would be so cheap to generate that it might even be given away for free! Several of the auto makers envisioned nuclear powered automobiles! Today of course, the reality of how complex these systems are (several infamous accidents have driven this point home hard!), has pushed conventional nuclear power into a no-man's land with few new power plants being planned. A shame, since if the technology could be built and maintained with sufficient safety enough coal and oil fired plants could be taken off line making a significant reduction in CO2 emissions...

Nuclear Fusion, particularly cold fusion if it is even possible, would provide a suitable power source that might be miniaturized to the point to do what Tezuka envisioned. Philo Farnsworth, the man who REALLY invented electronic television, also developed an early form of a fusion reactor. His device wasn't capable of generating more power than was put in to support the reaction, though with more research it might be possible. Forms of his invention are being used in the quest to build a practicable fusion power plant. While we normally think of Hydrogen as the fuel for fusion, since that is what the sun uses for fuel, other forms of Hydrogen such as deuterium, tritium, and Helium (He3, a form of Helium missing one neutron) are also being considered as they require less energy to "ignite". He3 is particularly interesting since a fusion reaction using this fuel could directly generate electricity though magnetic resonance pickup. He3 is quite rare on Earth, but it thought that large quantities could be found on the moon as our natural satellite is constantly being bombarded by the solar wind, which should be rich in He3.

[Earthshine]

With our current technology a robot with the same specs as Atom is completely impossible, however give ourselves enough time he might just be a possibility. I'm not sure sure about having the 100,000 HP though in proportion to his body though, that might require something of science fiction (and in our own future, science) to pull off safely.

My own theories and what I know of the two subjects I would rather have people focus on perfecting an AI first rather than a robotic body or preferably working on them as two separate entities instead of one idea.

[Dragonrider1227]

A robot with Astro's A.I. could be possible but I doubt all the abilities he comes with be in the not too distant future.

[jeffbert]

I doubt Tezuka was concerned about these things, though the discussion is interesting. From what I know, he was more concerned about finding ways to express his views that would be interesting to his targeted readers.

Enough of the stick in the mud stuff! Along with the AI & physical properties, there is the robotic occipital cortex, which ought to be rather large & complex, as is the human occipital cortex. Interpreting and such of the visual data from the eyes is not likely as complex as the thinking part of a robot brain, but it comes close.