Slashdot Mirror
Robot Can Read Human Body Language
An anonymous reader writes "European researchers have developed a new approach to artificial intelligence that could allow computers to respond to behavior as well as commands, reacting intelligently to the subtle nuances of human communication. It's no trivial feat – many humans struggle with the challenge on a day-to-day basis."
I'm sure this bot will pick up more chicks than your average slashdotter!!
many humans struggle with the challenge on a day-to-day basis
I bet one or two of them are reading this right now.
Whale
the problem is not humans struggling to respond...to body language, the problem is humans using such an ambiguous form of communication when they could make the effort to be explicit with words.
Spoken like a true Slashdotter!
No sig for the moment.
-Would you like to clean up your desktop icons now? -NO! -Are you sure you want to change the extension of this file? -YES! -Your body language shows you're getting nervous. Would you like to play some Patience now? -NO! AAAAARGH!
Or we could replace the autistic kids with socially aware robots :P
Let's see how good can this robot read a politician.
:)
If it is any good it will get banned in seconds.
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
Robot: "I won't do the dishes until you calm down."
Me: "I *am* calm."
Robot: "That is not what your body is telling me."
Me: !!!!!!
I read body language in Brail.
Would not the AI need to be hard-coded with said 'nuances'? Body language is not exactly universal. For example, in the USA, looking in the eyes of the person your are speaking with carries a message of honesty and sincerity. But in the some countries, that same body language carries a message of defiance and disrespect. Most humans can pick up on the difference right away based on autonomic sampling of their surroundings. But I doubt the AI will be able to do that.
I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
"Aqui en Mexico, todos los trabajadores tenemos acceso a servicios de salud publica."
Aun así, están trepando las paredes para entrar en el Norte.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
You are completely incorrect. What an old Chinese proverb says does not make it true. The identical smile of two twin brothers can mean something totally different; the identical smile of the same person can mean two different things depending on context.
When you move across cultures, different body language can have specific interpretations, or in one country be a habit where in another country it is considered a rudeness.
The majority of responses to this thread reflect the worst excesses of American self-centredness: in Spain over the years, I have so often seen a US tourist shouting at the native, making contorted facial expressions to try to get some message across. He then gets offended when the Spaniard moves his hands in a gesture which is perfectly normal for this country, but unusual and much more confrontational in the US. In fact he should have just taken the time to speak careful English and realise that we can probably do the same thing back.
Absolutely. I went to a private school and am familiar with the privileges of an Old Boys' network. Yes, competence is a must, but what makes you an insider is a particular way you must act: a social protocol that is on its surface, the mark of someone well-spoken, polite and reasonable, but underneath is a way to make sure that the undesirables are snubbed. Body language, accent, jargon, dress, mannerisms: all these things are involved.
It is all the more useful that people believe such things as body language are innate and immutable. It means we can pretend you're equal while we're more equal than you; it means that, if you're especially unobservant, we can act in a way that you interpret as naturally suave, sophisticated and respectable, when in fact we're just carefully controlling what you think is uncontrollable.
In short, the elite get a lesson in marketing, whatever their field. The middle classes think they're too smart to need that lesson, then wonder why then seem to reach a ceiling.
So the next episode of 'Lie To Me' is Cal Lightman vs a Robot? Outstanding!
'Lie To Me' is an excellent show by the way. Highly recommended.
I call it 'The Aristocrats'
That there are differences does not mean there are not universals.
Name me three "body language universals".
There are lots actually, especially among facial expressions (as noted above). Smiles, sneers, crying, frowns, etc are all understood to be fairly universal behaviors. They are universal responses to stimuli, and they are commonly understood by people irrespective of culture. The thing is that these relatively simple behaviors that are likely innate to the organism, rather than learned behaviors. Many of these reflexes are even understood across species.
He then gets offended when the Spaniard moves his hands in a gesture which is perfectly normal for this country, but unusual and much more confrontational in the US.
This is an example of a more complex learned behavior. You are correct in that this kind of gesture can only be understood within its cultural context; however this is not true "body language". This might be considered as simply Language, that happens to involve the hands. A better example to illustrate your point would be that of handshakes or eye contact. These behaviors, though they seem very simple and straightforward, do show huge differences across cultures.
If you'd settle for just one example of a body language universal, consider sexual arousal. Male sexual arousal is fairly easy to identify, and is generally understood across all cultures.