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Source of controversy due in part to fears related to human employment, the presence of robots in our daily lives is nevertheless inevitable, according to engineers
Erica chats with a brown man in front of a stunned spectator, in Madrid, of a connected humanoid robot.
She and others like her are at the heart of robotic research, because their human form can be the key to integrating such machines into our lives, researchers said this week at the International Conference on Smart Robots.
"You talked about project management, can you tell me more, please?" Erica, who plays the role of an employer, asks the man.
She may not understand the conversation, but she has been trained to detect and respond to keywords.
As a source of controversy due in part to fears about human employment, the presence of robots in our daily lives is nonetheless inevitable, the conference engineers said.
The thing to make them more enjoyable, they added, is to make them more human and to make them act so that we accept them more easily in our lives.
In aging societies, "robots will sooner or later coexist with humans," said Hiroko Kamide, a Japanese psychologist specializing in the relationship between humans and robots.
Welcoming robots in homes or workplaces involves developing "versatile machines capable of interacting" with humans without being dangerous, said Philippe Soueres, head of the robotics department of a laboratory-owned at the French scientific institute CNRS.
Erica the robot has been trained to detect and answer keywords
Human, but not too human
As such, robots must move "flexibly" despite their rigid mechanics and stop what they do in the event of an unforeseen event, he added.
This is why people choose "modular systems shaped human bodies" intended to easily integrate into real environments designed for humans.
For example, Atlas, a humanoid robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics, can work on different types of surfaces.
In Madrid, Marc Raibert, founder of the American firm, projected a video showing Atlas doing a backflip.
Atlas, a humanoid robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics, can work on different types of surfaces
Amnesty International has accused Atlas, funded by an agency of the US Department of Defense, of being a "killer robot" designed for the war of tomorrow, a sign of fear of potential future uses of these humanoids.
Another example of humanoids presented in Madrid is Talos, a robot manufactured by the Spanish company Pal Robotics, which tests its stability on a scale.
While this may not be the only form used for those who come in contact with humans, "it's easier for people to accept robots when they have a human face because they can be safe." Wait for the way the robots will move, will react, "said Kamide.
It's comforting, but it also has its limitations.
The theory of "strange valley" of the Japanese researcher Masahiro Mori, which he developed in the 1970s, states that we react positively to robots if they have physical characteristics that are familiar to us, but they bother us if they start to look like us too much.
The theory of "strange valley" of the Japanese researcher Masahiro Mori, which he developed in the 1970s, states that we react positively to robots if they have physical characteristics that are familiar to us but that they bother us if they start to look like us too much.
"One can never create a perfect human face" and this imperfection causes a feeling of "rejection" among humans, said Miguel Salichs, professor at the Robotics Laboratory of the Carlos III University of Madrid.
As such, he chose to turn his Mini Maggie robot into a small cartoon animal.
& # 39; Understand humans & # 39;
In Japan, robots like Erica are already used as receptionists.
Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor at Osaka University, believes that humanoids are "a very important tool for understanding humans".
Researchers need to think about the human form and how humans interact to develop robots that look like them
Researchers need to think about the human form and how humans interact to develop robots that look like them.
"We understand humans using robots, for example the importance of looking at the eyes," said Ishiguro, who also created robots resembling dead celebrities, or "moving statues".
He believes that the humanoids are the best to improve the interactions between robots and humans.
"The human brain we have has many functions to recognize humans.The natural interface for humans is humans," Ishiguro said.
For Jurgen Schmidhuber, president of the NNAISENSE artificial intelligence start-up, robots, whether they are humanoid or not, will be part of our future.
Erica and other humanoid robots like her, such as Sophia, are at the heart of robotic research.
They will not just imitate humans but will solve the problems by experimenting themselves with artificial intelligence without a "human teacher," he says.
Sitting in her chair, Erica nods.
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