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WizKid Robot Debuts At New York Museum

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the will-he-know-when-to-leave-you-alone dept.

ScienceDaily is reporting that a new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is part computer, part robot, and part child. Part of the "Design and the Elastic Mind" exhibit "WizKid" is able to focus on human faces and follows your movement allowing you to interact with objects on its display simply by waving your arms. "Wizkid looks like a computer with a neck. But there the similarities with the familiar personal computer end. Wizkid isn't static. The screen on the mobile neck moves about like a head, and it's trained to hone in on human faces. Once it sees you, Wizkid focuses on you and follows your movement. Unlike a computer, which requires you to stop what you're doing and adapt your behavior and social interactions in order to use it, Wizkid blends into human space. There's no mouse and no keyboard. You don't touch anything. There's no language getting in the way. On Wizkid's screen you see yourself surrounded by a "halo" of interactive elements that you can simply select by waving your hands. If you move away or to one side, Wizkid adapts itself to you, not the other way around. If you're with a friend, Wizkid finds and tracks both of you and tries to figure out your relationship, expressing surprise, confusion or enjoyment when it gets your response."

6 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Creepy by CRCulver · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Isn't there some principle in AI research that the more lifelike a thing is after a certain point, it no longer seems helpful and instead becomes disconcerting to the user? On the other hand, this isn't quite at the level of creepiness explored in Spielberg's film (sparked by Kubrick) Artificial Intelligence where the robot really does look and act like a real child.

    1. Re:Creepy by Brian+Gordon · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Everyone's thinking it: or Terminator. AI research is very interesting, and simulated neural networks blow me away with their complexity, but just WHY apply it to robots? If you end up creating anything useful, you'll be playing very close to some very deeply-ingrained human fears.. and if you think Slashdot is progressive/liberal enough to be immune from such fears, have you ever struggled against a disconcertingly powerful optical drive servo trying to pull a disk tray open? Yeah. Now you remember. :)

    2. Re:Creepy by Fex303 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Isn't there some principle in AI research that the more lifelike a thing is after a certain point, it no longer seems helpful and instead becomes disconcerting to the user?
      The term you're looking for here is the Uncanny Valley. I don't really know if would it would apply to this device though, since it's not designed to look even remotely humanoid.
  2. Nontraditional UI by bkaul · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From an AI research perspective, there are of course some interesting aspects. However, from a perspective of actual utility, I'm skeptical.

    When it comes to actually using a computer for office productivity or other "useful" applications, traditional interfaces (keyboard/mouse) are much more efficient and less intrusive. I suppose for home multimedia applications, Microsoft's smart table idea has some merit, but who really wants a computer/robot following them around and pestering them? I don't get the appeal. I don't want my computer to use me or intrude into human interactions as if it were a guest. I want to use it as a tool.

  3. Child Not Included by StaticEngine · · Score: 5, Funny

    You have to supply your own child parts. Luckily, children are in vast abundance and are easily obtainable, often with little more than some inexpensive candy and a van.

  4. Action Video by ikarous · · Score: 3, Informative

    For those interested, YouTube has a video of WizKid's home media user interface in action. You can also see a video of the "emotional" expression movements.

    Here.