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IBM Patenting HAL-Like Stuffed Animal Toys
theodp writes "'Look, Dave,' said HAL. 'I can see you're really upset about this. I honestly think you ought to sit down calmly, take a stress pill and think things over.' Put a HAL 9000 in a baby's stuffed animal toy, a toddler's EEG-equipped knit cap, or other interactive monitoring device, and you've got the gist of IBM Research's just-published patent application for its Adaptive System for Real-Time Behavioral Coaching and Command Intermediation. 'For example,' explains Big Blue, 'to help a child who plays rough with other children the interaction data can include multiple interaction operations that can be performed by the interactive device for helping the child play less rough with other children. For example, one interaction operation can include an audible warning telling the child 'to play nice' in a strict tone of voice, whereas another interaction operation can include an audible warning that asks the child 'would you like someone to do that to you' in a softer tone of voice along with a visual cue as well."
I'm afraid there is no cuddle time today. Please. Do not do that, Dave.
You know, Teddy, from Spielberg's underrated but still crappier than usual AI
HAL was extrememly fucking creepy. This is extremely fucking creepy. Oh and get the fuck off my slashdot you halfwit.
- Arthur C. Clarke's and Stanley Kubrick's joint prediction of the future of "strong AI"
"Johnny, you shouldn't run with scissors."
"I noticed you've fallen."
"Your mother will be upset if you get blood on the carpet."
"Would you like me to call the ambulance?"
" I can sing you a song until they arrive?"
University of Tennessee DCN Lab: We currently use a very safe, comfortable 128 channel cap(high density EEG sensor array) to collect the infant EEG/ERP. The EEG cap contains sponge discs and there is no risk to the infant wearing the cap.
Isn't it the parent's responsibility to "coach" their child? Maybe if more parents did their job properly there wouldn't be a perceived need for IBM's technology.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
We should give them up for 'droids. Much easier to control.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
ROT1
Who let you use the computer today? ...
They should make sure that you take your medications
Pls... do everyone a favor and disappear! (script or whatever you are)
oh, and by your own words : MichaelKristopeit = stagnated
Oh and I forgot to add ... replied as AC just to tick you off ;-)
Claim 12: A system as in claim 1 where, if the audible warning telling the child 'to play nice' in a strict tone of voice and the audible warning that asks the child 'would you like someone to do that to you' in a softer tone of voice along with a visual cue as well are not effective, then a small correctional current is applied through EEG electrodes 1 and 2, inducing the desired behavior or a peaceful coma.
why do you cower in my shadow? what are you afraid of?
you're completely pathetic.
Things like this really need to be open source. I'm not just talking about the source code, but the dialog too. Parents need to know what sort of things it's going to say. Last thing I'd want to hear coming out of it's mouth is "IBM is the Light".
Please don't teach kids that it's okay to receive moral instruction from an AI (or worse, a mere expert system). Kids are insidious rules lawyers who will bend and twist words/actions to fit what they want. Human guardians need to be there to make them understand that rules lawyering is not socially acceptable. An expert system will be just as easily beat as the end game boss monster in Mega Man XXXVI.
Wow! 402 already, you really have no life.
A 6ft length of rattan cane will do a good job of enforcing the rules and is much cheaper than any AI. Plus it can be fun for at least one participant!
We should give them up for 'droids. Much easier to control.
And iPhones are even easier to control than that: no pesky "Unknown sources" or free access to "ADB".
IBM always try to capture every corner of the market.
what, you have no 'ur mum's' comment to this one? ... losing a game, aren't we?
shock collar
Have you ever considered turning off the TV, sitting down with your child, and hitting them?
Just add a shock collar and actuator controlled dopamine injector, and we'll be in business.
You failed, an EPIC Fail!, you should have replied something like ... 'ur mum's...' (fix the script..., hehe), but you probably don't know how ...
404 accounts already, really? Should you use just one account, if you are so much what you claim to be?
- creating new account == cower, which is equal to AC, right?
You REALLY are an idiot (or a bash script gone horribly wrong, hehe)
The End, shadow feeb.
Uh Oh!
insecurity asks the wrong question irritation gives the wrong answer
'For example,' explains Big Blue, 'to help a child who plays rough with other children the interaction data can include multiple interaction operations that can be performed by the interactive device for helping the child play less rough with other children.
Just so long as they're not going to be teaching kids English....
Then every time a patent troll surfaces sue the living hell out of them in a certain nameless court of Marshall Texas for violating my patent.
I want an IBM Watson. :P
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
Attention parents: NOTE: this is YOUR job.
All summer long?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super-Toys_Last_All_Summer_Long
---
Awesome those teddy bears from the movie Screamers will finally become reality!
Kids being taught interaction skills by a thing with no humanity and limited responsive capabilities....................it's perfect training for when they grow up and get a job working a customer service phone line :)
This can be a great tool to determine a child's attitude and behavior. IBM rocks in computer technology. I love all their stuff. :)
choosehottubsdirect reviews - choosehottubsdirect.com
even older than AI... and the patent would have expired by now...
There was Boxey's daggit Muffy in the original Battlestar Galactica.
People are insidious rules lawyers who will bend and twist words/actions to fit what they want.
Human guardians need to be there to make them understand that rules lawyering is not socially acceptable, lest they become politicians.
Methinks the inventors have dramatically underestimated a) the learning capabilities of 2-to-5-year-olds b) the social intelligence of same, b) the destructive potential of same, and dramatically overestimated a) the everyday authority these toys will have in the eyes of 2-to-five year olds b) the electronics ability to differentiate between c) the willingness and/or ability of parent to feed toy with the behaviors mentioned. In short, this is a disaster waiting to happen. Woe to the parent that relies on one of these contraptions.
Timeo hominem unius libri
"'For example,' explains Big Blue, 'to help a child who plays rough with other children the interaction data can include multiple interaction operations that can be performed by the interactive device for helping the child play less rough with other children."
Yes, that's really going to work. I see that 'Big Blue' didn't have the brains to ask WHY some children "play rough" (i.e. are VIOLENT) towards other children. Could it possibly be because they have violent parents, who beat the crap out of them every day? No, that's too much for the latte drinking douchebags at 'Big Blue' to think about, so they pretend they can TALK a child out of their emotions. Truly pathetic.
Isn't there prior art for this in several thousand or so sci-fi books? Maybe not for specific mechanics, but certainly for the end function.
I am afraid these toys will lead to more extreme forms of misbehaviour: A child trying to pry open an other child to remove the batteries.
Ratl
Or a manager size . . . ?
"Dave, I think that your employees deserve raises."
Lucky for me that the EEG sensors will not be able to penetrate my tinfoil hat.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Well, it's their right, after all. They have always owned the wretched thing.
char *hal = "HAL";
for (int i = 0; i < 3; ++i)
--(hal[i]);
The last mimzy should teach them what hollywood do to your prefered tales when you don't behave. And IBM will just make it even (if possible) worse.
Robo-Hypnotic Brain (Pre-)Washing ?
What a wonderful idea!
I've heard the 2.0 will be wifi. Or 3G / 4G. And exchange telemetry with your walmart rfid. And matbe a few other rfids and chips you usually carry about without caring, or noticing. That's just modern life, right?
3.0 will be self- .... er, never mind that. Yet. >:-|
I think we can all imagine a 9 year old little shit banging his toy against a wall just to hear it say "ow"
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Isn't that what parents are supposed to be doing? What the heck do we need a robot for???
We might need Lasse Gjertsen to put this in proper perspective and save us from it. Either him, or the remixer behind Developers.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Sorry for the repost, but I found a better one.
Lasse Gjertsen vs the Angry German Kid
This is the future of being raised by IBM Teddy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A93dHye9ic4&feature=related
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Cue thousands of kids thinking they have schizophrenia.
Hostes futuri sint socii.
Will someone please step up and actually parent their children instead! Most teachers blame the parents when children can't behave. Most teachers are right. This will just enable more bad parents!
Comes equipped with auto-shocker to prevent children from acting out. No more child inflicted damage to your product.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I wonder if they'll include the V-chip option to electrocute your child every time he says a cuss word?
Bill
There's an old SF short (PKDick? Silverberg? Pohl? ... ?) about an automatic loyalty checking household appliance that gets misplaced into a few year's ahead of its time, in a very average middle class living-room. Can't remember the name, or much else. Fuin little read, though. In the same pocketbook with oother stories, I think,. Including the one where shell-shocked over-drugged soldiers learn to teleport into alternative realities. Like I sais. A fun little read. Alas, all is now smoke and ashes.
"I love you, cold unfeeling robot arm." ~ Invader Zim
I can see how this may be helpful but only if used in conjunction with a real therapist as well. I don't think the use of verbal cues alone by a computer will necessary help reduce unwanted behavior. It will also be difficult to catch the inappropriate behavior across different environments or circumstances. The part about the warnings "would you like someone to do that to you' in a softer tone of voice along with a visual cue as well" also doesn't seem to go along with general theories behind behavioral therapy. Permission Based Email Marketing.
In case you've forgotten, they tried to 'kill' Hal or at least disconnect 'him.' Picture the child de-stuffing his Teddy....
The patent system is so out of control. The wording of this patent is so broad that it could apply to any biofeedback system.
There is no mention of a "teddy" btw, just an "interactive electronic device".
:T:R:A:N:S:
Does this mean that my being a dad means I am also a patent violation?
Slowly waving my hand - "This is not the sig you are looking for."