鈥淚t鈥檚 surprising how often people make nervous jokes about robots taking over the world. I don鈥檛 want to make too much of that, but I think there鈥檚 something there.鈥� So says one roboticist who thinks finding out exactly how fictional robots influence people can help engineers build real ones.
Roboticist and literature researcher , both at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, recently held a at the on human-robot interactions in Munich, Germany.
鈥淢ost people have never seen a robot before,鈥� Smart told 快猫短视频. 鈥淭heir experiences 鈥� such as they are 鈥� all come from movies or literature.鈥�
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That affects the way people react to real robots, he says.
鈥淧eople have a theory in their head about how something will behave, and if a robot doesn鈥檛 fit with that theory, people get nervous,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like standing next to the twitchy guy at the bus stop. He goes against your expectations and you get worried.鈥�
Great expectations
For example, not everyone responded well to a robot built by Smart and colleagues that .
鈥淧eople that thought of it as a camera with legs were really pleased, but people that thought of it as a photographer were really disappointed,鈥� he says.
Smart thinks those raised expectations were down to the impact of unrealistically human-like robots in movies and books. 鈥淧eople don鈥檛 really know what they are. in Star Wars is very humanlike, intelligent and capable, but real robots are not like that at all.鈥�
Instead of just forcing people to alter their expectations, Smart thinks it makes sense to study how people鈥檚 ideas about robots are influenced by fiction. That knowledge could be used to design robots that make the most of those expectations.
鈥淢y real concern is to get people and robots to play together nicely,鈥� says Smart.
Work in progress
The workshop was an attempt to start a discussion among roboticists about those ideas. 鈥淲e hope to have future meetings and are working towards designing experiments,鈥� says Smart.
, a roboticist at Sheffield University, is currently researching the history of robotics and uncovered evidence of simple robots in ancient Greece. Robots have appeared in fiction as far back as that too, he says.
鈥淎ll robot researchers have experienced the way that people鈥檚 behaviour towards robots is influenced by their experiences with science fiction,鈥� he says. Attempting to come up with robot design ideas based on studying that sci-fi influence is an interesting idea, says Sharkey. 鈥淏ut this is an early stage discussion 鈥� who knows if this will develop into a more substantial field.鈥�
Robot dreams
Engineers might learn from fictional robots in other ways, says Sharkey.
鈥淚t would be worthwhile to study the way computer animators make us connect with simple, non-human objects.鈥� Pixar鈥檚 WALL-E, for example, is easy to connect with, he says.
There are precedents for roboticists working with Hollywood, he points out. The expressive eyes of the , with a face designed to express emotions, came from a Hollywood effects company.
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