Robotic Moments

Tomorrow night on the HR Happy Hour show we will be joined by MIT Professor Sherry Turkle, author of the recent book 'Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other'.

'Alone Together' is almost two separate, but linked works.  Today, I will take a look at the first half of the book called 'The Robotic Moment: In Solitude, New Intimacies', which explores the world of 'social robots'; creations as simple as LED-powered children's Tamagotchi pets, to much more complex robots developed in the MIT Labs and other places, that ostensibly are the pre-cursors to the next (or next-next) generation of robots that will care for children, the elderly, and even provide companionship of a sort for really anyone.

Professor Turkle explores not so much the technical capabilities of the increasingly complex robots, but rather our relationship with them.  The 'Robotic Moment' has nothing at all to do with feats like IBM's Watson playing (and at the moment), defeating human competitors at Jeopardy!; instead is has everything to do with our willingness to accept and perhaps compete for the attention of and connection to these social robots.

Professor Turkle describes studies conducted at MIT with advanced social robots named Cog and Kismet; robots that were capable of engaging in simple conversation, that would respond to verbal and non-verbal cues, and perhaps most importantly would seek out people in the room, make eye contact, and demonstrate what to many of the study participants felt like 'caring' behaviors. And that, is the key, the Robotic Moment.  When we think robots can move beyond simply performing according to their programming, and acting in caring and nurturing ways.

But we are misguided in these beliefs. Even the most advances, lifelike, and realistic social robots can't truly 'care' about us.  But as Professor Turkle details in the book, that may still be acceptable for many. She recounts numerous stories from her research of Grandmothers ignoring their grandchildren to attend to a robot 'Real Baby's' needs, elderly nursing home residents accepting robot baby seal-like creatures as companions, and even the developers and programmers of the most advanced robots seemingly conflicted about the true nature of their creations.

A book about robots, and the wonderful things they can do, is not really all that interesting, pehaps only from an engineering perspective.  But an examination of what the increasing development and more complex and nuanced relationships that we have with these social robots, and what it might suggest about ourselves is fascinating.

Do we want to develop better and more capable social robots as babysitters or elder care companions simply because those are the kinds of jobs that we no longer value highly enough to staff with people? And do children and the elderly seem willing to accept these robots, while (mostly) aware of their shortcomings as 'good enough' substitutes for parents and adult children that are often too burdened, too busy, and too distracted to devote the time and attention needed?

And if (or perhaps when), robots do become more a part of our cycle of life - as babysitters, assistants, emotional companions, and elder care givers, what does that say about us, and about our conception and definition of emotional connection?  When robots make the progression from 'Better than nothing', insofar as they serve as stand-ins for roles that people no longer can or want to perform;  to 'Better than Anything', preferred over humans as companions and care givers, then the Professor argues we are on the precipice of a dramatic slide. The robots are smart, they 'know' that we want to nurture them, and that we come to love the things we nurture, and nurture the things we love.

But can we really 'love' a robot?

Tomorrow, I will take a look at the second half of 'Alone Together', called Networked: In Intimacy, New Solitudes', which focuses on the always on, always connected world of social networks and virtual worlds. 

What is the connection between robots and social networks? Think it is sort of crazy to think you could ever love a robot?

How do you feel about your smartphone?

Robots Selling Cookies

According to a recent article in Business Week, the next wave of robot technology is aimed directly at the office market - robots that can file papers, deliver mail, and fetch a coffee for their human bosses.

These robots, according to Noriyuki Kanehira, a systems manager at robot manufacturer Kawada, will soon be able to take on a 'secretarial role' in offices. Joe Bosworth, the CEO of a firm called Smart Robots envisions these office robots as being able to 'take mail down to the mailroom and then travel across the street to pick up a latte.'

The price for this robot convenience for mail delivery and latte fetching is not cheap - prices on the current wave of office assistant type robots can run as high as $400,000 for a model called the PR2. Thankfully the PR2 comes with an associated web app called 'Beer Me' that allows the robot to be programmed to fetch and deliver beer from the fridge.

As with any new workplace automation or productivity technology, there will be some that will sound the alarm that the coming of these 'smart' robots will be the doom of more actual human workers.  Despite the high price, and (for now) somewhat limited application in the office environment the robots have many advantages over the humans they might replace.  Again from the Business Week article the robots 'doesn't goof around on Facebook, spend hours tweaking its fantasy football roster, or require a lunch break.'

When presented with that kind of a cost-benefit analysis, I imagine some executives might see the value in replacing some clerical and administrative employees with robot counterparts.  'Let me see, $300K for an employee that is never late, never gets sick, never complains about Judy's music in the next cube, and won't be hassling me to buy Girl Scout cookies every year?'.  Sounds like a good deal.

But for these leaders that might eventually make those kinds of decisions, there is another, more intriguing element to the 'robots in the office' angle. At Georgia Tech, researchers claim to be making progress on robot intelligence that will allow them one day 'to build robots that can not only interact with humans but are also capable of representing, reasoning, and developing relationships with others." They developed an algorithm that, they claim, allows robots, just like CEOs, "to look at a situation and determine whether [it] requires deception, providing false information, to benefit itself.'

Nice, not only will future robots be able to sort the mail, they will be able to be programmed to have Enron-style ethics and behaviors. Sweet.

Will we see the day in the foreseeable future where robots are as common around the office as pot-luck lunches, pedometer giveaways, and fluorescent lighting?  Perhaps.  But one thing seems likely to be discovered from the development of robot intelligence designed to replace and automate common workplace functions - that the line of irreplaceable human skills and intelligence is probably much higher up the managerial food chain than we like to think.

If what you are spending your time on today can be replicated by a robot, you are already in trouble. And if you think your contribution is on a high enough level where it can't be truly automated, think about it this way - if all the people that you support and direct were actually replaced by robots, then what would you do?

For laughs on a Monday - another take on the distant future of robot domination (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through)