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How Do People Respond To Being Touched By a Robot?

Posted by Soulskill on from the show-the-court-where-the-robot-touched-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes "You know it's coming, and for the forever-alone crowd, not soon enough: robots that physically interact with humans. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found in a study that people generally had a positive response toward being touched by a benevolent robotic nurse, but that their perception of the robot's intent made a significant difference. 'Even though the robot touched people in the same way,' said a team lead, 'if people thought the robot was doing that to clean them, versus doing that to comfort them, it made a significant difference in ... whether they found that contact favorable or not.'"

4 of 137 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Human touch is seen as empathetic by Wolvenhaven · · Score: 5, Funny

    DON'T DATE ROBOTS!

    --
    Orwell was an optimist.
  2. Re:Human touch is seen as empathetic by mano.m · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I disagree. Empathy and kindness can be programmed, and if sufficiently advanced, may be indistinguishable from human empathy or kindness. What makes my genetic programming or yours more legitimate than that of a future robot? Then again, we may not even need to get there. Humans have a tremendous ability to empathise unilaterally. Spock and R. Daneel Olivaw are two of the most beloved characters in sci-fi. We emotionally connect to pet rocks and the abandoned lamp in the IKEA commercial; we feel for characters in novels and are moved by music. Why not a robot?

    --
    Karma fed to this user will be promptly burnt. Be warned; be wary.
  3. How about robot as agent for compassion? by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are you sure? I mean, can't a compassionate programmer have programmed the robot to be compassionate to a human for him, by proxy?

    I mean, if you see the robot as an agent of a programmer who wants to help you, what's so creepy about that?

    --PeterM

    1. Re:How about robot as agent for compassion? by JackOfAllGeeks · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I bet your girlfriend wouldn't like receiving a love letter that you had bought from "Love Letters Unlimited" and just inserted her name into, would she?

      This is why the greeting card industry has been such a failure.