Advanced Social Skills For Humanoid Robots 92
Lanxon writes "A pan-European team of robotics researchers began a project this year that could see humanoid bots interact with groups of people in a realistic, anthropomorphic way for the first time. The 'humanoids with auditory and visual abilities in populated spaces' (HUMAVIPS) project has the ambitious goal of making humanoid bots just a bit more human by building algorithms that will enable bots to mimic what psychologists call the 'cocktail party effect' — the human ability to focus attention on just one person in the midst of other people, voices and background noise."
Wait ... you mean ... (Score:5, Funny)
soon robots will have better social skills than I do?
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Only if they are loaded with oxytocin.
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Only if they are loaded with oxytocin.
That doesn't make sense.
Robots don't have nipples [wikipedia.org].
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An orphaned lemming (with a speech impediment) living in a cave in Uzbekistan has more social skills than most Slashdotters.
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Yes, but will they be able to talk about Linux?
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soon robots will have better social skills than I do?
You could be it's wingman at cocktail parties
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You posting as AC proves that they already have better social skills than you.
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But we'll still have the market cornered on pooping.
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soon robots will have better social skills than I do?
Exteeerrrmiiinnnnatteeeee! Exteeerrrmiiinnnnatteeeee!
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You'll feel even more inadequate when they pass the Turing test you've repeatedly failed.
Hmmmmmm (Score:2)
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well, you don't want to fall into the habit of having too many bots. i mean one for telling time, one for making phone calls, one for reading. you want one robot that does it all, and you want it to do it all well. what if you're in an orgy and after awhile everyone's tired and just want to talk about politics? you'll sure be glad you have a "all-in-one" bot instead of wishing you'd brought your "coversationalist bot."
hm. an all-in-one bot at an orgy. may not be the best idea after all.
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When you welcome your new overlords, they will graciously thank you for your hospitality.
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Yanee dah poo noo, ho ho ho (Score:1)
In Star Wars, we are introduced to two primary types of robots. One is a protocol droid, the other is much more utilitarian (a mechanical JS Mill, if you will). The protocol droid is almost completely useless. It is insecure, fragile, and clumsy. The utility droid is clever, handy, and quick.
Why are we working so hard on creating protocol droids when utility droids are so much better?
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The people who are interested in buying protocol droids have oodles of money to spend on shinies. The people who are interested in buying "utility droids" either a) already have some (car factory robots), though they're usually less mobile, or b) can just hire cheap labor in Asia instead.
Re:Yanee dah poo noo, ho ho ho (Score:4, Informative)
That's not true. Sometimes it is necessary to have a droid who understands the binary language of moisture vaporators. That's something even poor moisture farmers need.
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Not everybody has a nephew hanging around to put restraining bolts on the droids and argue with them. And even if they did it might not work out well. If I was to buy a robot to help my elderly mother it would have to be able to communicate with her, because she definitely isn't going to communicate with a R2 unit. Two days ago I tried to set up a new mobile phone for her but she didn't like the SMS interface (apparently Nokia phones "just know" what she wants to type) so she kept the old one.
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The phone I was trying to set up for her is my Motorola and the implementation was sufficiently different enough to turn her off. I suppose the point is that as people become more set in their ways the user interfaces they interact with have to adapt to their expectations.
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She's talking about the predictive text feature.
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Tell him to make sure it speaks Bocce.
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C3PO was an android, R2D2 was an astromech. This explains everything.
Androids can never be more then imperfect imitations of people. Robots controlled by a strong AI are MUCH more interesting.
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Yeah, because Star Wars perfectly resembles... no IS... reality, and everything in it is completely true!
How about climbing out of your Star Wars bed, in your Star Wars themed basement, and going outside? Without the Darth Vader mask! ;)
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How about climbing out of your Star Wars bed, in your Star Wars themed basement, and going outside? Without the Darth Vader mask! ;)
But you'll die without your mask!
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Why are we working so hard on creating protocol droids when utility droids are so much better?
Except that a protocol droid IS a utility droid under the right circumstances. C-3PO knows "over six million forms of communication"; that's extremely useful for diplomats, foreign exchange students, travelers, etc., etc., etc. Not everyone needs a garbage can that can plug into their computer and display low-res holograms. Heck, C-3PO was needed most of the time so that people could understand just what in the world your "clever, handy, and quick" droid was trying to do or say. For a more relevant exam
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let's say that R2-D2 is a Linux computer C-3PO is a Mac. Tons of people still use the latter, don't they?
It's pretty mean to bring up the weight problems of Linux users.
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C-3PO is a Mac
Lying unfinished in a mudhut for years, with only one eye when everyone else's droids already had two, but ended up looking very gold and shiny at the end of the movie ?
Wrong fiction (Score:2)
We are trying to create Rommie from Andromeda - hubba hubba!
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We are trying to create Rommie from Andromeda - hubba hubba!
They've already got the important bit figured out [fleshbot.com].
Re:Cocktail Party Effect (Score:4, Interesting)
You, my friend, have hit the nail on the head. Social interaction is not defined by a behavior pattern, but by patterns driven by desires, or goals as they term them scientifically. It's great to get a press release when you figure out how to mimic some human behavior, and more great when you get a program to mimic human thought. The trouble really comes when you try to mimic humans, they are unpredictable, non-logical, and down-right antagonistic to programmatic function. Build me a robot with low self-esteem and we can have a conversation. Build me a robot that can sell used cars, we have a few months of conversation, build me a robot that can sell oil to Arabs and we have a deal. Build me a wall street robot and we have a government contract !!!
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Build me a robot that ...
Personally, I'd settle for one that "looked" the part, even if all it did was say "Guy killed me, Mal. He killed me with a sword. How weird is that?" Or something like that.
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Those features can easily be programmed into a robot; all that is required is pattern matching towards a specific goal.
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Social behavior in humans is certainly driven by desires, but that doesn't mean a behavior pattern of enough sophistication couldn't mimic human behavior so accurately that a human couldn't distinguish between it and a real human (although I personally believe the most successful artificial human behavior will use the same drives and desires as real humans). Humans are not unpredictable or antagonistic to programmatic function. What they are is complex. They are seemingly unpredictable because they are more
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you should have gotten points
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There are plenty of wallstreet robots. The famous leaked source code for goldman sachs's analytics bot is one of them. Most of our economy is run by machines already. The human factor only comes in from massive amount of small investors, which makes the market less predictable. Even so, there are machines that can analyze emotional level of the masses and make a fairly accurate prediction.
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Here's a tip, researchers: HUMANS don't have the ability* to focus on one person at a cocktail party. Humans focus on the booze, the snacks, and the sex. We don't give a fucking shit about whatever mindless story some guy is telling (for the 20th time).
*In cases where we are able (not loud, person talking is coherent, available food is too shitty to be distracting), we are smart enough to choose not to.
Make a robot that picks up chicks, then we'll talk.
You don't expect that the point of this might be to create a robo-bartender, -waiter, or -maitre d' rather than a robo-partier? When you order your vodka-cranberry or Shirley Temple, the bartender needs to be able to focus on you or he won't understand what to pour you.
Besides why would you want a robot picking up the available singles at a party? Unless you want a robot that lures them away so you can knock them unconscious...
Suggested tag... (Score:4, Funny)
> Advanced Social Skills For Humanoid Robots ... ...
>
> team of robotics researchers
That story should be tagged "what-could-possibly-go-wrong" ;-)
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I wonder if this auto-posting software will ever become sentient, and pass the Turing test ?
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Way to go ! (Score:2)
Forget the Robots! (Score:3, Funny)
Cool (Score:1)
CANNOT BELIEVE IT (Score:1)
Realistic Interactions (Score:1)
The Terminator: Hasta la vista, baby.
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Never train a social robot from an adolescent male's skill set.
Can I get an upgrade? (Score:3, Insightful)
focusing on one person in a crowded room, being able to hear what one person is saying despite a lot of other talking and background noise I don't care about? I don't have that super-power, where do I sign up?
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Programmers giving robots social skills? (Score:4, Funny)
I think the small part of my brain that handles irony just segfaulted
Here's a tip for you (Score:2)
I think the small part of my brain that handles irony just segfaulted
If you're at a cocktail party and need to take a core dump, it is considered good manners to excuse yourself, explain where you are going but not in any great detail what you are doing there, and then taking said core dump in private.
In other words: // TODO: skip the wait queue? // FEATURE: dumps core // BUG: never reached
printf("Sorry, I'll have to go to the bathroom\n");
while(not at_bathroom()) move_to_bathroom();
mutex_lock(bathroom_door);
char *p = 0; *p = 0;
mutex_unlock(bathroom_door);
return;
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Oh, so you're the dirty bastard who never flushes his buffers ?
Hello, real world! (Score:1, Informative)
Just checked through the research proposal (not much info, sadly), and am both disappointed and pleased.
First of all, there is almost nothing new on what the researchers want to do there.
Cocktail party problem has been described and aimed at a gazilion times, and many groups have been dealing with that kinds of problems, even in the context of robotics (see work at Honda in Germany).
Already at the end of the 90s, people at MIT people were already researching in attention systems.
On the other hand, finally r
Warning, possible off topic (Score:1)
... "the human ability to focus attention on just one person in the midst of other people, voices and background noise."
I don't think this is a strictly "human" trait. My dog doesn't have a problem listening to me over other people calling his name at the same time. Whether he can partake in the utter waste of time called "small talk" is still, however, unknown to me.
Somone's thinking a-head! (Score:3, Funny)
From TFA:
NAO comes with a 500MHz CPU, although an improved head with double the computing power is expected before the end of the year.
At least they are smart enough to put the CPU in the head. This makes the robot easier to disable once it starts using its new-found social skills to ask about the location of Sarah Connor.
Obvious Use (Score:1)
"to focus attention on just one person in the midst of other people, voices and background noise."
They want a computer algorithm that can single out a specific voice in a crowded area and convert it to a text feed...
Who thinks this will be of more interest to the intelligence community than the we-just-want-to-build-a-friendlier-robot comunity?
I for one.. (Score:1)
RE4 Prototype (Score:4, Funny)
"Welcome, stranger."
"Oh, hi."
"What are ya buyin'?"
"Nothin'."
"What are ya sellin'?"
"Nothin'."
"Come back anytime."
"Oh, OK."
"Welcome, stranger."
"Aaah!"
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Sir, you just made my day. It's a shame I don't have any mod points right now.
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I consider this post disturbingly prophetic...
This is not the first bot to do this?! (Score:1)
This is not the first example of this and the article is factually wrong. There is on they have been working on in Hollywood for quite a while that was featured on Scientific America on PBS.
Ruben