Robot Tries to Mimic Human Navigation by Kyle Butt, M.A.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=2756

Robot Tries to Mimic Human Navigation

by	Kyle Butt, M.A.

Modern, atheistic evolutionists insist that humans were not designed by an intelligent Designer. They claim that millions of years of random, chance processes pieced the human body together from basic building blocks that emerged from inorganic chemicals. Even though millions of people have accepted these evolutionary beliefs, neither accurate scientific findings, nor rational thinking leave any room for such ideas. One of the most basic truths that militates against the idea of human evolution is the fact that functional complexity always requires an intelligent designer.

Take, for instance, some of the latest, cutting-edge robotics technology. Several researchers in Europe have joined together to design a robot that attempts to navigate like a human. In a recent article, Anne-Marie Corley noted that the new robot “is controlled by algorithms designed to mimic different parts of the human visual system” (2009). Mark Greenlee, the lead researcher of the project, stated that the robot mimics “several different functions of the brain—object recognition, motion estimation, and decision making—to navigate around a room” (as quoted in Corley, 2009).

How much “intelligence” would it take to tackle a robotics project of this magnitude? Corley commented, “Ten different European research groups, each with expertise in fields including neuroscience, computer science, and robotics, designed and built the robot” (2009). The amount of time, money, and mental energy wrapped up in this project is enormous. Some of Europe’s brightest minds, equipped with expertise in various key areas, teamed to make a robot that attempts to mimic human navigation skills. And yet for all that, Tomaso Poggio, the head of MIT’s Center for Biological Computational Learning, candidly admitted that there are “definitely areas of intelligence like vision, or speech understanding, or sensory-motor control, where our algorithms are vastly inferior to what the brain can do” (as quoted in Corley, emp. added).

If our brains function in ways that are superior to anything that the world’s most intelligent scientists can devise, what does that say about our origins? That fact directly implies that Whoever designed humans possesses an intelligence far superior to that of the world’s most brilliant thinkers. The psalmist accurately and beautifully portrayed this truth when he stated that humans are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14, emp. added).

REFERENCES

Corley, Anne-Marie (2009), “A Robot that Navigates Like a Human,” Technology Review, [On-line],URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/22946/?nlid=2140.