Thread below the Gardening Thread: August Robot News [KT]

Robot octopus points the way to soft robotics with eight wiggly arms.

Be sure to check out CBD's post just below this one. Consider watching the video, too. And maybe bookmarking it.

There is more robot news below the fold. And this is an open thread. Be as nice as you would want a robot to be. Heh.

People favor expressive, communicative robots over efficient and effective ones.

Making an assistive robot partner expressive and communicative is likely to make it more satisfying to work with and lead to users trusting it more, even if it makes mistakes, a new study suggests.

But the research also shows that giving robots human-like traits could have a flip side -- users may even lie to the robot in order to avoid hurting its feelings.

I have a few questions:

1. Would people have had the same priorities for robot helpers 70 years ago?

2. Does it matter what kinds of mistakes are in question?

3. Do we have to call them "assistive robot partners"?

4. Does this mean that fast food robots will be programmed to make mistakes so they can gain our affection by apologizing?

This sounds promising: Mind-controlled robots change paralyzed patients' lives.

NASA space robot needs MY HELP? I feel so special.

Have you had a recent robot experience, or seen a recent robot story, that makes you care about robots more?

posted by Open Blogger at 12:00 PM

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