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Robots with a Heart

New developments in social robotics with designers Heather Knight and Andrea Thomaz, robot scholar Kate Darling and artist Fernando Orellana.

There are more and more robots appearing in our homes and workplaces, and designers are working on making robot-human interaction seem more natural to us. But are there risks in making robots too emotionally appealing and inviting them into our homes? Can they ever become substitutes for human contact? Jack Stewart discusses these issues at the 91热爆鈥檚 World-Changing Ideas Summit in New York with designers Heather Knight and Andrea Thomaz, robot scholar Kate Darling and artist Fernando Orellana.

Photo: by Amy Sussman, AP - From the 91热爆 FUTURE鈥檚 World-Changing Ideas Summit

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41 minutes

Last on

Mon 27 Oct 2014 03:05GMT

Chapters

  • Heather Knight

    Robot comedy

    Duration: 12:15

  • Andrea Thomaz

    Teaching robots to learn from us

    Duration: 10:45

  • Fernando Orellana

    Robots interpreting our dreams

    Duration: 08:24

  • Kate Darling

    Should we be friends with robots?

    Duration: 08:41

Heather Knight

Heather Knight

Heather Knight is a robot designer, currently at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who uses theatre to improve robots. She tells us why comedy may turn out one of the best ways to teach them about human thought and behaviour and performs a short extract from her comedy routine with a robot named Ginger.

Photo: Amy Sussman, AP

Andrea Thomaz

Andrea Thomaz

Andrea Thomaz is Associate Professor of Interactive Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she directs the Socially Intelligent Machines lab where she has worked on well-known social robots such as Simon and Curi (pictured). One of her goals is finding out how robots can most efficiently use humans to learn and ask good questions.

Photo by Raftermen Photography, courtesy of Georgia Tech

Fernando Orellana

Fernando Orellana

Fernando Orellana is Associate Professor of Digital Art at Union College in Schenectady, NY, who has made a number of art-works that are based on robotics or automation. Sleep Waking features a robot that can physically re-enact our dreams.聽 His Carry On installation consists of suitcases with robotic arms fitted with micro-cameras and LCD screens, which busy themselves with the task of surveying their surroundings.

Photo: Amy Sussman, AP

Kate Darling

Kate Darling
Kate Darling is a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and Fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She says that as social robot design improves, we may need to think about the effects of treating robots various ways. If people are overly empathetic towards specific robotic objects, might we need a legal framework that discourages violent or abusive behaviour towards these robots?

Photo: Amy Sussman, AP

Broadcasts

  • Sat 25 Oct 2014 21:05GMT
  • Mon 27 Oct 2014 03:05GMT

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