Touching robots in what humans think of as intimate places arouses emotions in people, but they're not what you think — the resulting feelings are mostly ones of discomfort, researchers say. This new finding could influence future generations of robots that are designed to interact with people, the scientists added.
Robotic toys and tools are becoming increasingly popular. Scientists around the world are developing sophisticated robots that could one day serve as teachers for the young and companions for the old.
Robotic toys and tools are becoming increasingly popular. Scientists around the world are developing sophisticated robots that could one day serve as teachers for the young and companions for the old.
Robot-Human Interactions
Some people envision a grim future in which machine intelligence exceeds that of humans, and "Terminator"-style robots take over the world. But robotic technologies don't have to evolve at the expense of humans, one expert says.
"The purpose of technology is to enable human ability," Cori Lathan, founder and CEO of Maryland engineering firm AnthroTronix, told an audience here at a two-day conference hosted by Smithsonian Magazine, called the "Future is Here," celebrating science fiction, outer space and the technologies of tomorrow.
From the International Space Station to the operating room, technology has enabled humans to achieve some amazing feats, but human-machine interaction should also enable cognitive and emotional abilities, Lathan said. [Super-Intelligent Machines: 7 Robotic Futures]
“What will technology allow us to do in the future, or what will it force us to do?” Lathan said. She foresees positive developments. "I’m a techno-optimist."
Lathan grew up as a so-called maker, creating robots for children with cerebral palsy. Then came a spurt of advances in consumer electronics. Lathan started developing robots that could engage with kids with autism.
Today, wearable tech and computing power are advancing rapidly. One area that can leverage these technologies, Lathan asked, is health and medicine.
When a person goes to the doctor, the physician will take their temperature, measure their height and weight and take their blood pressure. But what about measuring mental health?
“We’re ignoring our brain,” Lathan said. If doctors could track brain health over time, they could detect changes, such as concussions, depression or Alzheimer’s disease.
While mind-reading technology may be far off, brain-computer interfaces are becoming more and more sophisticated, Lathan said. What if someday soon, a smartphone could record a person’s emotional state and display it to others? A teacher could gauge students’ attention, and a CEO could do the same with employees, Lathan said.
Already, smartphones help people eliminate disorientation when they’re trying to navigate an unfamiliar or complex place, such as the New York City subway system.
In the future, robotic caretakers, similar to the robot Frank in the 2012 film "Robot & Frank," could help elderly people combat mental deterioration. If such robots could keep humans mentally sharp, they could radically change the aging process, Lathan said.
Lathan’s own father was showing signs of cognitive impairment, and was diagnosed with sleep apnea, a disorder that disrupts breathing during sleep, which prevents the brain from getting enough oxygen. A machine called a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) could keep her dad breathing smoothly, but she found he doesn’t always want to use it.
Super-Intelligent Machines: 5 Robotic Futures
RObot war
t's the nightmare that fueled "The Terminator" — the possibility that robots could end up vying with humans for dominance. Engineers are already developing robotic pack mules and soldiers, while drones have become a mainstay in the war against terror. At least a few apocalyptic visionaries see super-intelligent robots turning on their human makers sometime next century. Still, many computer scientists say this isn't the biggest of the singularity
Immortality
Many people, such as the futurist Ray Kurzweil, believe that humans won't have to die after the singularity. Some envision a future where humans port their brain into computers, essentially living within the machines. Others imagine cybernetic parts to replace cancerous limbs and aging hearts, radically increasing longevity. Either way, death could be transformed from an inevitable aspect of life to a relatively rare occurrence.
Economy on Fire
Once machines can match human intelligence, it will be a simple matter of copying intelligent agent software, which is capable of programming an artificial mind, from one computer to the next to create more workers for the economy. Whereas the economy doubled every thousand years after the agricultural revolution, and every 15 years after the industrial revolution, a post-singularity economy could double every month, then week, Hanson said. That blistering pace of economic growth could be so fast that humans couldn't keep up.
Mass Unemployment
As robots get smarter, humans just won't be able to keep up. While simpler tasks may be outsourced to robots at first, by 2045 Kurzweil predicts that machines will be billions of times smarter than un-augmented human beings. Robots have already replaced factory workers, and self-driving cars are just around the corner. Still other computer-science technologies, such as the ultrafast stock trading programs that cause "flash crashes," are being developed without considering how they could damage people or put them out of work, said Bill Hibbard, a computer scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Vestigial organs
Once almost all tasks are outsourced to super-intelligence, humans may gradually lose the abilities that once defined Homo sapiens' smarts. In fact, some say the world is in the midst of the singularity already: Humans have already relinquished their ability to navigate, memorize and calculate, said Joan Slonczewski, a microbiologist at Kenyon College in Ohio. Scientists have even developed empathetic robots to do some of the most human tasks — caring for the sick and elderly.
In the end humans may become like mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of the cells. Though mitochondria were once independent organisms, primitive bacteria engulfed mitochondria long ago, and they gradually outsourced all their functions but making energy. Humans may similarly lose all their abilities, regressing to the point that they only provide energy for the machines
emotionally respond to what the robot said:-
Without thinking, humans tend to mimic the facial expressions of others. When other individuals smile, people smile and feel warmth. When others frown, people frown and share their sadness. This empathetic response is so strong that people might even instinctively copy the facial expressions of creepy robots, a new study suggests.
Researchers observed how students interacted with a robot made to look like physicist Albert Einstein to explore the phenomenon of facial mimicry. This instinctive human quirk, also observed in chimps, causes individuals to subconsciously mimic each other's facial expressions.
The most exciting finding was that the students spontaneously imitated the android's facial expressions even though the participants knew the robot was artificial and even though they felt uncomfortable around it, said Piotr Winkielman, a psychologist at the University of California, San Diego, who was involved in the study. This shows the power of mimicry and demonstrates the possibility that humans can interact with an artificial being in a natural way, he said. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots]
"Modern technology can now produce androids that not only look like humans, but also move their faces like humans, and thus can 'compel' humans to synchronize with them," Winkielman told Live Science. "There are all sorts of attempts now to bring in humanoid robots into health care, [the] service industry and regular homes. This study shows that these modern androids can, via mimicry, create a form of 'relation' with other human beings."
For their study, which was detailed July 18 in the journal PLOS ONE, the researchers had 23 undergraduate students sit face to face with Einstein, a lifelike android, complete with humanlike skin and the ability to stretch its face into angry or happy expressions. The students first rated how "creepy" they found Einstein, how comfortable they felt around it and how humanlike it appeared. The researchers then observed and analyzed how the students interacted with the robot.
Regardless of how they felt about the robot, the majority of the students mimicked Einstein's smiles and pouts without any initial prompts or instructions to do so. In contrast, during a control study in which Einstein appeared on a television screen, only the students who reported the robot as "lifelike" mimicked its facial expressions; they did this despite previously reporting that Einstein made them feel uneasy.
The results suggest that facial mimicry might depend on the presence of a being with humanlike facial features, Winkielman and his colleagues wrote in the study. It's this recognition of facial characteristics that people respond to and connect with — as well as the physical presence of the robot.
"Androids that look humanlike and show humanlike movements can spontaneously 'grab' us and make us mimic them," Winkielman said.
The findings may also contribute to an understanding of how mimicry works in the brain. Spontaneous or rapid facial mimicry is thought to occur because of mirror neurons, brain cells that activate a copycat response when one person or animal observes the actions of another. The study suggests these mirror reflexes might even occur when people meet an artificial, mechanical being.
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