2023 Author: Bryan Walter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 22:24
Korean engineers have created a robot for communication between single people. By listening to sounds in the house, the robot analyzes what is happening and can tell about it to the acquaintances of its owner using the same robots. It is assumed that this will help them fight loneliness and encourage communication in the form of comments about each other's everyday activities. Reported by the IEEE Spectrum. The development was presented at the HRI 2018 conference.
It is known that social isolation can negatively affect both overall life satisfaction and people's health. For example, there are studies showing a link between loneliness and dementia symptoms, as well as an increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Engineers have previously proposed developing robots to combat loneliness, but it was almost always assumed that such a robot would have to replace other people with humans.
Engineers led by Jinwoo Kim of Yongse University have created a robot for lonely people, but based on a different concept. Instead of replacing a human, their robot serves as a means of communication with other people. Its body resembles a silhouette of a cat, in the center of which is a screen displaying interactive eyes capable of expressing various emotions. By the way, another study presented at the HRI 2018 conference showed that the absence of a mouth or other key elements of a person's face on the robot's “face” reduces trust in it.
In addition to the screen, the robot is equipped with temperature, light and distance sensors, as well as a microphone, a sound sensor for receiving information and a speaker for output. Using a distance sensor, the robot determines whether the owner is present in the room. If the owner is nearby, the robot analyzes the surrounding sounds and predicts human actions based on them. Having recognized this or that everyday action, for example, opening the front door or refrigerator door, the robot sends this data to other robots “living” in the houses of friends or relatives of its owner, and they, in turn, report his actions to their owners.
The creators made these messages anonymous - the robot does not name the person who performed the action. But if one of those who receive such a message wants to know the details, he can knock next to his robot, and he will transmit a request for communication through the robot of the first person - after that, the owners of the robots can send messages to each other in the messenger or contact by phone. You can also express emotions through robots, for example, patting for approval.
The developers suggest that their robots will help people partially compensate for the feeling of loneliness, and will also encourage them to communicate. The creators of the robot claim to have conducted four-week tests on volunteers and they noted that the robot gave them a kind of sense of cohabitation with other people.
In 2016, Canadian scientists showed that the tendency to endow inanimate objects with human qualities can be associated with feelings of loneliness and can prevent socially isolated people from getting to know and building relationships with others. Scientists have also shown that if a person thinks about loved ones, then his desire to "humanize" things weakens.
