Dogs Love Robots, Prefer Humans 45
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Researchers recently spent some time forcing dogs and robots to hang out together, in order to better understand the social qualities of interactive robots. The scientists had two objectives: to find out whether canines would interact with a robot and also to see whether they would ascribe social qualities to a non-living, non-human-like being. Dogs were divided into two groups: one would have a social interaction with the robot while the other would have an asocial interaction. They were allowed to watch their owners interact with the robot before meeting it themselves, which was then followed by a session wherein the canine subjects had to obey gestural cues from either a robot or a human. The robot purposely did not look human, save for its arms and gloved hand, as the researchers wanted to explore sociality apart from anthropoid features. As it turns out, dogs were interested in the robots, especially if the robots themselves were social and they saw owners interact with the robot, but ultimately were not as responsive or successful in following cues as they would otherwise be with humans."
Evolution (Score:2, Insightful)
Dogs have been selected for millenia for their ability to understand and interact with humans. Small wonder that interaction is smoother between dogs and humans than between dogs and robots.
Re:Smell (Score:2, Insightful)
Yes, and this is the reason why this experiment is garbage: dogs do not perceive the world the same way we do: smell and hearing are much more important to them than sight. And even with regard to smell, dogs are naturally inclined to care only about some scents: food, other dogs, etc. this is why you have to train them to look for drugs or explosives: cocaine is simply not interesting for them. Moreover they weigh hints like body language, perspiration, even the most subtle hint in your voice, etc. all things a robot cannot reproduce.
Re:Smell (Score:4, Insightful)
Dogs respond not just to smell, but to the biological processes of our bodies that they can hear: heartbeat, respiration, GI processes, etc. Purely mechanistic robots that do not mimic such sounds would therefore be less interesting.