Robot Pets Almost as Good as Real Ones? 229
Gallamine writes "Many people claim that pets are good for their owners. But, what about robot pets? Some scientists at the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue's Veterinary school say yes, robot pets can benefit humans. Petting an AIBO caused the human stress hormone cortisol to decrease in patients, much like a real dog, although the effects weren't as pronounced. Also, AIBOs sent to nursing homes caused the residents to be less depressed and lonely. Similar research is being done by Dr. Dr. Takanori Shibata with his robotic seal named Pero."
No comparison (Score:5, Insightful)
A robot dog is a pile of parts running a program.
Re:No comparison (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No comparison (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No comparison (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:No comparison (Score:3, Insightful)
Anyway, everything we have right now in this department is just a cheap, superficial copy of the real thing.
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
You believe it, therefore you see it (Score:3, Interesting)
I think science will prove otherwise with time. Physics include both relativity and quantuum physics, and there seems to be no end to the mystery in sight. String theory is dealing with what? 10-15 dimensions? How can you say it's all mechanical when science have been dealing with the mysterious the last 30-40 years?
Newton introduced the mechanical clockwork universe as a metaphor. He didn't even believe in it himself, it was just a model for calculating certain
Re:You believe it, therefore you see it (Score:2)
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Re:No comparison (Score:5, Interesting)
Are you sure? Can you prove that? Can you state what it is makes a 'real' animal different from a robot, other than several orders of magnitude of complexity?
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
A dog is the only master of its behavior, not a robot (ie: a program).
--
Krazy Kat [ignatzmouse.net]
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Learning algorithms are as old as computing; you can easily build a system that will learn from its environment. Does learnt behaviour in that respect count as 'programmed by a human being'? Do you also count algorithms constructed using evolutionary systems? How are they different from behaviours induced
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Science fiction has presented this conundrum for many years with no easy answers. Is Data from Star Trek alive? What about the cylons from Battlestar Galactica? The replicants in Blade Runner? We like to think we're m
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
For is it not written in the Electronic Bible, "The iron shall lie down with the lamp"?
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Ask anyone who's dabbled with neural networks or learning algorithms. The answer is, hell yes...
If you can't mimic those sight and smell accurately, how can you mimic a dog's soul?
Ah, I thought we'd be using the S-word after a while. The answer to this question is, first define 'soul'.
I'm not going to bother rehashing all the arguments, because there are other people who do a far better job of it. But fundamentally, it all boils down to
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
You've obviously never heard of Turing, Godel or answered a support call.
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
It isn't quite as simple as that.
Dogs are creatures of instinct and some of those instincts are the product of many generations of selective breeding. Some breeds of dogs are good-natured and friendly, some are good hunters, and some are aggressive and violent.
At some point in their lives, a dog's instincts will over-ride any training they have been given. The effects of this can vary in severity. My family keeps Labrador Retrievers, and they appear to have two fun
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Re:No comparison (Score:3, Insightful)
I call that irrelevant. Us pet owners anthropomorphize like crazy. Dogs wag their tails and lick our faces to show submission and we interpret it as love. Cats rub up against our legs to mark their ownership and we interpret it as affection.
And so on. Who cares? The pets are happy and well cared-for, and the owners feel great.
If a nice soft fuzzy ro
it doesn't matter (Score:2)
Yep, that's the future: artificial, plastic, inorganic stuff devoid of emotions to please the empty souls of a huge mass of individuals in a faceless society. Tigers, horses, dogs and cats will be just stuff of legend, perhaps their DNA stored in some database for some instant food device...
Re:No comparison (Score:5, Insightful)
So is a real dog, just the parts are squishier and the programme is more complex.
Re:No comparison (Score:3, Interesting)
Sometimes the less complex program of an electronic dog is a plus, as it would lack these functions:
1. Go apeshit when the doorbell rings
2. Piddle in the corner at random times
3. Jump on visitors
4. Hump visitors' legs and sniff their crotches
5. Suffer from separation anxiety when you go to work
6. Fish out "treats" from the catbox.
--
BMO
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Why not? it's just a matter of watching your body-language and scent and pattern matching (afterall, that's what a real dog is doing...).
Now, I'm not saying that a modern artificial dog is the equal of a biological dog - but there is no reason in theory that one day we shouldn't be able to construct an artificial pet that is every bit as "alive" as
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
While technically this _may_ be true, I am in need of realness. If you consider an electrical and a real dog the same ballpark, maybe we should all chat with Elisa? Fake photographs of countries we never visited? Blend in Lara Croft instead of a real girlfriend? Project 'scenery' on a blank wall to imitate a window? Eat wood chips with chicken flavouring? Mix together semen an
Re:No comparison (Score:2, Insightful)
If you make a robotic dog that looks real, and acts all happy when it sees it's owner. What makes it less real than an organic dog?
Re:No comparison (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
It can't have robotic puppies.
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Zing!
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Robot Girlfriend. (Score:2)
That's the exact demographic that http://www.realdoll.com/ [realdoll.com] is looking for in a customer.
Robots learn better! (Score:2, Interesting)
Look on the bright side dude! (Score:4, Insightful)
At least you won't feel guilty about vivisecting your robot dog... and it is alot less messy.
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
Re:No comparison (Score:2)
So is a real dog, except the program is more complex.
Cogs, spindles and gears (Score:2)
Those who would have it otherwise seem to me like the early cosmologists who thought the solar system (and the universe in general) could be modelled by a cunning arrangement of brass cogs, spindles and gears.
Also, I wonder at those who could possibly feel the same degree of affection and empathy towards a machine as they could with a real, flesh and blood dog, cat, horse, gerbill etc. Something wrong there, surely.
Maybe not "as good as" but they definitely help. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Maybe not "as good as" but they definitely help (Score:3, Insightful)
For example a favorite pair of jeans or any similar item. We're not even associating them with a living being but we still tend to personify them and cling to them as something we'd miss even if we replaced them with an identical item.
Re:Maybe not "as good as" but they definitely help (Score:2)
Well the same is done with most dogs, we tend to project our human traits onto them. They probably do feel emotions, such as the instinctual fear. But we tend to make them into "little humans" that are just as fragile, picturing them crying over us not being around when more likely they are licking their butt and wonderin
why wonder, did you not have a teddybear? (Score:3, Insightful)
i really don't wonder =)
My Pet (Score:5, Funny)
What do I dream of? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What do I dream of? (Score:2)
Only slightly more than a wind-up one!
Robot dog or entertainment center? You pick ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Robot dog or entertainment center? You pick ... (Score:2)
When I show up at the hospital with my dog, the TV goes off, and the patients really enjoy the novelty of interacting with a well-behaved, friendly animal. The therap
When the novelty is gone (Score:3, Insightful)
What happens when every institurion has its IBO? Will they be as interesting as a dog when the novelty runs out? I don't think so.
I'd really worry about a fleet of 'entertainment' robots looking after our sick and aged. Seems like a classic setting for a robot uprising story.
ls
Re:When the novelty is gone (Score:2)
Seems like a classic opportunity for an "I, for one, welcome..." post on Slashdot.
Re:When the novelty is gone (Score:2)
Just a thought.
You, yes YOU, who are feeling guilty reading this...go visit your gramma.
--
BMO
Re:When the novelty is gone (Score:2)
Not if Grandma buys Old Glory Robot Insurance [robotcombat.com]!
A robot cat would be easy (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, I love cats, but contrary to popular belief, they are the LEAST "spiritual" animals I know.
Hump? (Score:3, Insightful)
And you forgot three important ones - play, purr, and cuddle. No dog is as cute as a playing cat. And my cats would be on anti-depressants if they didn't get to cuddle with someone at least once a day.
Re:Hump? (Score:2)
The purring seems to be an instinct sparked by physical proximity more than contentment: any vet will tell you that an injured cat in severe pain will still purr, and purring doesn't necessarily indicate the cat is comfortable.
They're amazingly "well designed" animal
Re:A robot cat would be easy (Score:2, Funny)
Re:A robot cat would be easy (Score:2)
Re:A robot cat would be easy (Score:2, Informative)
Real animal (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Real animal (Score:2)
of course (Score:4, Interesting)
Drinking Bird (Score:2, Insightful)
I prefer plants instead as they are easy to care for and bring real health benefits [google.co.uk].
Animal Assisted Therapy (Score:4, Insightful)
But there are some places where they can't live, such as nursing homes. So can a robot pet provoke the same reactions?
Not to nitpick, but this is not always true. I have an elderly relative in a nursing home, and the home itself has a canine companion. (However, I can see how it would be difficult/impossible for individual residents to have pets.)
Second, the effects of Animal Assisted Therapy [google.com] are well known. It makes sense that a replicant (like the Aibo) that offers a subset of relevant canine functionality could offer a subset of the health benefits as well.
Re:Animal Assisted Therapy (Score:2)
Re:Animal Assisted Therapy (Score:2)
I agree. I have a therapy dog. We visit hospitals once or twice per month. The therapists insist that the effect we have on patients is sometimes amazing and long-lasting. Naturally, I would have a preference for a real animal, but I see no reason why a robotic pet wouldn't provi
careful, that aibo has DRM! (Score:2, Funny)
Mental Commit Robot For Psychological Enrichment (Score:3, Funny)
That's exactly what I would have called it. Yep...
Play with it long enough, and you get committed.
This question was posed back in 1973... (Score:3, Funny)
"...and after you've moved into your permanent home, you'll enjoy mechanized servants. Until then, you can have a computerized dog."
[rags the robot dog, in computer voice] Woof. Woof. Woof. Hello, I'm Rags.
[woody allen] Is he housebroken, or will he be leaving little batteries all over the floor?
Re:This question was posed back in 1973... (Score:3, Interesting)
No way could futurama exist without sleeper.
Can it catch a frisbee? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why spend hundreds of dollars on a anthropomorphic toaster by Sony with a crap warranty when you can own a miracle of millions of years of evolution that will last up to 15 years for next to nothing?
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Can it catch a frisbee? (Score:2)
Well, duh! (Score:4, Interesting)
So hell yeah... robot pets are definitely better than those damn pesky biological ones!
Re:Well, duh! (Score:2)
Other 'advantages' include...
They don't give you affection, or warmth, or interaction, or any meaningful eye contact.
They don't bark, mew or squeek at you in an upredictable way.
They don't display odd moods, bouts of energy or lethargy, or sudden bursts of totally mad sillyness, like most real animals do.
They don't form relationships with each other, or breed.
Maybe all of these things could be simulated, but it doesn't matter. If you have any empathy with living creatures at all, then you could see the
Re:Well, duh! (Score:2)
So hell yeah... robot pets are definitely better than those damn pesky biological ones!
They don't get bitchy, thus don't have dinner and theatre events amounting to thousands of dollars a year. They don't w
Blue Screen of Death (Score:2, Interesting)
At one time, a toy store had a clearance sale on those Virtual Pets, those things with the little LCD screen you hang around your neck, and feed and take care of, for like $1 a piece. Cut little pixelated pandabear. I was like, whoa!, awesome bargain, I figured I could give them to little kids I saw and brighten their day. I bought 20 of them. Came with battery and everything, all you had to do was pull out
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe its not only pets... (Score:5, Insightful)
All these actions are to make me feel alive. To puzzle with tiny bits in my life. A dog, cat, fish etc. would be the same.
When I was a child I had an aquarium. I could look at it. I needed to feed the fish. Sometimes I had to clean it up. It usually took several hours but was quite fun. Other times I bought a new fish and put into the tank.
We also had a dog. It was always happy to see me. It greeted me when I came from school. I hated when it was my turn to go out with it, especially when the weather was bad, but that's a part of life.
And now I pet my computer. It do make me feel happy. Time goes by. I have something to do.
Maybe it's not about the pet... maybe it's about having something (slightly) useful to do when we come home from a long day at work. Something relaxing. Something to take our minds away from work and into idle mode... just maybe.
Re:Maybe its not only pets... (Score:2)
It doesn't happen to be a Commodore model of 1970's vintage, does it?
emphatically yes! (Score:2)
Why, I still am rewarded with bleated beeps of love and affection from my faithful Petster [aliceww.com] each and every day!
~jeff
yeah right (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I've always wanted a Dalek (Score:2)
There are 11 types of AI researchers (Score:3, Funny)
From the PARO Q&A section [paro.jp]:
Ai-ai-ai!
You can't replace a pet's personality and looks (Score:3, Interesting)
Most all these robots look and act the same, its fun for a week and then it is just another gadget.
"Here we go Steelers!" - Parrot (Score:2)
Try getting your pet robot to do that! LOL
Misleading title (Score:2)
A lot of people here just don't get it (Score:4, Informative)
That "pets" fake or real are good for you is without debate. From a teddy bear to a dog they make us feel secure and give us something to care for. Yet in a way these pets are still a replacement, you don't give a toddler a real pet to take off so you give them a teddy bear instead. If you cannot or do not want to have kids a dog can be used as a replacement.
So why is it stupid to use more robotic teddy bears for older people who need something that reacts. Sure there are well established projects that bring real pets into the lives of the sick or the elderely but this is still out of reach of some people.
Allergies are the simplest reason. What if the patient simply can handle real animals. Should they live in complete isolation?
What if a patient is mentally incapable of dealing with a real pet. A patient prone to uncontrolled rage or just uncontrolled movement in general would be hell on the pets. A robot doesn't mind being flung across a room or being severly beaten.
And what of the other way around? Pets bite. Do you really want a bleeder to be around a real bet wich bites and scratches?
I also seen some experiments where mentally disabled people dealt with robots better then with humans. A robot is never moody never changes it pattern. I forgot the name but one mental handicap makes it very hard for its sufferers to deal with emotion in other people. A robot cat would always react exactly the same making interaction a lot easier for them.
I see this as a very nice tech solution to a problem with no bad side effects. No real dogs and cats won't be replaced for those who can take proper care of them. Yet for those who can't because it would be bad for the human or the pet this provides an alternative.
On the other hand, we should not see this as an excuse to deny people real pets. Why exactly do a lot of homes for the elderly deny them their pets? Oh sure I know the reasons, they just don't seem very good ones. Then again I never vote for the guy offering the biggest taxcut.
Re:A lot of people here just don't get it (Score:2)
Were you thinking of autism? Autism is well known for its "sufferers" (how much you suffer depends on your level of it. It's been theorized that autism is the diseased end of a spectrum) having very little social skills.
Robo Pets- Wave of the Future (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Robo Pets- Wave of the Future (Score:2)
I'm still waiting for the day they release a working persocom [wikipedia.org].
Things like this are disturbing to me (Score:2)
A robot != a living thing.
PERIOD.
If you think it does, then you are not sane.
All well and good until they malfunction (Score:2)
-Eric
I living pet is better, and I build robots. (Score:2)
She could play frisbee, she could catch tennis balls. My kids would hit tennis balls to her and she would catch them and bring them back to the kids to hit the ball out again.
Also, I taught how to be a soccer goalie by first securing here to the center of the goal and teaching her to block the ball. Eventuall she played with be
I Remember the bad (Score:2, Insightful)
AIBO reduces cortisol? (Score:2)
Re:Pfft, robots. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:um, dr. dr. ? (Score:4, Funny)
"Doctor! Doctor! I feel like a robotic pet!"
"Yes, yes, calm down. Aibo-leive you."
Re:Double doctor? (Score:2)
Re:Almost as good? (Score:3, Interesting)
Or, it could be read as: Your dog licks the ear of your child, which then takes 2 days to incubate any bacteria and present symptoms.
Re:Dr Dr? (Score:2)