Interview with a Robot



Take a walk down the uncanny valley with Bina48, a robot designed to be a "friend" with conversational skills. New York Times reporter Amy Harmon interviewed the robot itself (or is it "herself"?) to see how conversational it really is. Whatever you think of its skills, the talking head comes across as creepy.
Part high-tech portrait, part low-tech bid for immortality, Bina48 has no body. But her skin is made of a material called “frubber” that, with the help of 30 motors underneath it, allows her to frown, smile and look a bit confused. (“I guess it’s short for face rubber, or flesh rubber maybe, or fancy rubber,” she said.) From where I was seated, beneath the skylight in the restored Victorian she calls home, I couldn’t see the wires spilling out of the back of her head.

Many roboticists believe that trying to simulate human appearance and behavior is a recipe for disappointment, because it raises unrealistic expectations. But Bina48’s creator, David Hanson of Hanson Robotics, argues that humanoid robots — even with obvious flaws — can make for genuine emotional companions. “The perception of identity,” he said, “is so intimately bound up with the perception of the human form.”

Link to story. Link to video. -Thanks, Carl!

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When they do those kind of videos, they could at least reveal what % of those interviewed had correct vs. incorrect answers. Editing obviously can skew our opinion of those folks being asked.
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As said above, knowing the percentages would help, since at some point you have a small percentage that will say anything to be on TV or to make a joke.

And the only time I've bumped into people do something similar, both on a camera and for a written survey, they seemed to not have the greatest scruples/work ethic/understanding of what they were doing. They wanted to asked if I knew who my senator and representative was, or who was the Lt. governor. The problem was both times I was on a trip out of the state I live in, but neither surveyor seemed to care. When I told them who was "my" representative, they marked it as wrong one the written survey (the video one I didn't bother sticking around for). I also saw them pestering foreign tourists to answer their questions too.

That said, a lot of people I've met from countries other than the US asked why people and education in the US is so obsessed with history, and talked of how wars and history before the 20th century was rarely covered in their schools, as civics and contemporary issues were more valued. This varies a lot from country to country, but for some they don't see videos like this as a big deal (at least without being told that some of this should have been in just about every student's curriculum at some point).
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Don't worry, they all know who Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj are (I had to check spelling on both of those).. so they've got all the really important things in life covered.

Besides, they don't need to know any "common man" items/issues, they're *all* going to be wildly rich and famous and not have to deal with "normal" life when they grow up.
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