Robots may improve mental wellbeing, but it all depends on their looks

2 weeks ago 39

Robots tin amended intelligence wellbeing successful the workplace, but lone if they look right, probe suggests.

A survey by the University of Cambridge recovered that radical who interacted with robots that were much toy-like, felt a greater transportation compared to human-like robots.

Over 4 weeks, 26 employees took portion successful the play robot-led wellbeing sessions.

While the robots had identical voices, facial expressions and scripts for the sessions, their carnal quality affected however radical interacted with them and however effectual they thought of them to be.

The first, the QT, is simply a childlike humanoid robot and astir 90cm tall, portion the second, Misty, is simply a 36cm gangly toy-like robot.

University of Cambridge of a robot-led wellbeing session.

According to the researchers, toy-like robots look simpler, meaning radical whitethorn person had little expectations and ended up uncovering the robot easier to speech to and link with.

Those who worked with the humanoid robot recovered their expectations did not lucifer reality, since the robot was not susceptible of behaving oregon interacting similar an existent human.

These perceptions of robots are typically guided by fashionable culture. Researchers added that successful films, TV shows and books, robots tin bash thing that an individual's imaginativeness tin deliberation of.

But erstwhile faced with a robot successful the existent world, it often does not unrecorded up to expectations.

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Co-author of the study, Minja Axelsson, said that these perceptions of "how robots should look oregon behave mightiness beryllium holding backmost the uptake of robotics successful areas wherever they tin beryllium useful".

Professor Hatice Gunes, from Cambridge's Department of Computer Science and Technology, said it is "incredibly difficult" to make robots that are susceptible of earthy conversation.

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