We are entering a new era of technological connectivity. We already have ‘smart products’, ‘wearable devices’ and ‘the Internet of Things’.
Now we have robots, too.
Actually, this is not new either. Robots have been used in manufacturing for at least the last two decades, either waving their arms around as spot welders, or lumbering raw materials between assembly points.
The difference is that these new robots do not lumber. They skitter. They wink at you. They are deliberately designed, much like C3PO, to mimic our actions and register an emotional context. Whereas robots of the past worked for us, the latest versions (social robots) like Intel’s Jimmy, Softbank’s Pepper, social robot start-up Jibo–and the myriad shapes and sizes at Tokyo Toy Fair this month demonstrate they want to work with us.
More significantly, they will trigger emotions that will entice us to befriend them.
This is a dramatic shift in thinking that may take some getting used to. Or not. In fact, the device that we adapt and adopt first as passing the human gatekeeper may be the real winner.
Developers today are dissecting and sorting through the emotional actions, icons, and expressions that help us to respond and interact with fellow humans. In this way, they can utilize those winks, rolling eyes, head shakes (already familiar to iPhone users who enter the wrong password), and other non-verbal signals to help our brain get past the “robot” and to identify the wires and shell not as an inanimate object, but as a familiar and acceptable companion.
If not directly human, then all the signifiers of being human-like.
Background. The word “robot” first appeared in a 1920s play written by Czech playwright Karl Capek, the term deriving from the Czech word for “worker.” Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov used the word “robotics” twenty years later in his 1942 short story “Runabout.” Ever since, robots have enjoyed tremendous fictional status, cast as both major and minor characters in everything from “Star Wars” and “Robocop”, to “The Day The Earth Stood Still” and “Transformers.” Robots make good box office.
As usual, robots as devices are being given handy functional status. We are told they will make our lives more convenient. Even the Internet of Things has devices connecting with other devices to make our lives less complicated: they will lock our doors, adjust the thermostat and order groceries online and have them delivered to our door.
Nonsense.
Everyone conscious during the 1980s should experience some deja vu here, and remember how home computers were initially sold and marketed. We were told they were efficiency or convenience tools intended to balance the checkbook, organize grocery lists, even store family photos.
(At the same time, corporate pundits and CEOs were declaring the personal computer had no place in the home, much less in the palm of your hand.)
So let’s not be fooled again.
Fast fast fast forward. If you happened to glance at the June cover of WIRED magazine, you saw another wink at the future.
Thanks to Oculus Rift, you can now simply pop on some goggles and step into another world. But be careful. The full 3D reality the goggles immerse you in, tricks your brain into believing, and most importantly, feeling that you are standing on a ledge. Instinctively, you step backward. Until your brain confirms that you are safe.