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Dogs Love Robots, Prefer Humans
Daniel_Stuckey writes "Researchers recently spent some time forcing dogs and robots to hang out together, in order to better understand the social qualities of interactive robots. The scientists had two objectives: to find out whether canines would interact with a robot and also to see whether they would ascribe social qualities to a non-living, non-human-like being. Dogs were divided into two groups: one would have a social interaction with the robot while the other would have an asocial interaction. They were allowed to watch their owners interact with the robot before meeting it themselves, which was then followed by a session wherein the canine subjects had to obey gestural cues from either a robot or a human. The robot purposely did not look human, save for its arms and gloved hand, as the researchers wanted to explore sociality apart from anthropoid features. As it turns out, dogs were interested in the robots, especially if the robots themselves were social and they saw owners interact with the robot, but ultimately were not as responsive or successful in following cues as they would otherwise be with humans."
Humping the robot's leg doesn't count.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
All a Terminator has to do now is wave its hand and tell the dogs to sit.
First thing that came to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNGH5Omg4-8
The robot purposely did not look human,
But don't dogs have a keen sense of smell? Presumably they could smell the difference between a person and a robot - and act accordingly. So there were two variables that should have been tested, not just what the robot looked like.
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Turn on a Romba near a cat... they're either attack it or ignore it with imperious contempt.
I've decided to stop wasting my time responding to AC trolls/sockpuppets... so if you want a response from me... login.
Dogs have been selected for millenia for their ability to understand and interact with humans. Small wonder that interaction is smoother between dogs and humans than between dogs and robots.
Simak dealt with robot-dog relations long, long ago in his wonderful collection of stories (mostly on a post-human Earth).
Credo quia impossibilis -- Tertullian
Good point. I was also thinking they should do the same experiment with "realistic" looking robots. Some of these can be just lifelike enough to be kinda creepy. I suspect that dogs might be just as creeped-out by them as most humans are, but it would be interesting to see the results. Perhaps someday we can add the "Rover Test" to the Turing Test as a measure of robotic realism.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
When all life on earth is wiped out following a dog confusing a Dalek with a fire hydrant.
Have gnu, will travel.
After petting and being pet, humans and dogs both experience elevated levels of oxytocin, the same chemical measured during other forms of affection. I wonder if the dogs experienced any elevated oxytocin levels after interacting with the robots.
I saw on an episode of Nova that dogs have some human communication abilities that even "smarter" and more closely related animals like apes don't have and can't learn, like responding to pointing. From TFA, they made the robot unlike a human except for a gloved hand, with tests pointing with a hand, but the Nova episode also showed the dogs would make eye contact and the trainer could indicate by pointing with just their eyes. Maybe an experiment could create a robot with eye-like indicators.
...treat them like human-controlled robots. Seems sensible to me.
ultimately were not as responsive or successful in following cues as they would otherwise be with humans.
I think dogs also get a lot of action/behavioral cues from our facial and vocal expressions, which may be missing from the robots.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
The way the dogs interact with robots programmed to interact like human's seems pretty analogous to the way humans interact with robot pets. How do dogs interact with robots that are programmed to act like dogs? Then we can see how the dog-bots interact with robots. Now lets add some cat-bots, mouse-bots and cheese-bots. When you stir this pot I think you end up with a Tom and Jerry cartoon that may already exist.
It's clearly not as good as the original.
http://i.imgur.com/C4VDkmJ.jpg
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
It really depends on what the bot brings to the table, however:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PcL6-mjRNk
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Prisencolinensinainciusol. Ol Rait!
Yes, obviously... but is that enough, by itself, to trigger a negative response? I don't think anyone knows the answer to that question. Dogs are the only species that can "read" human facial expressions like we do ourselves... no other species even comes close (not even chimps). And we know that a good deal of this perception is purely visual, so it's a fair question how much "weirdness" a dog would tolerate.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
.... then redo the experiment you will find a whole different result...
Food is only part of it. Dogs are social creatures. They love their master because he is part of the social group, and usually the leader of the group. It's not just about food. And it is real love - if you've ever seen a sad, howling dog guarding his master's corpse, you'll understand that the dog isn't worried at all about what it's going to eat that night.
“This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog."
Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a dog beside the body of his dead master, licking his face and howling, on a moonlit field after a battle. Napoleon was haunted by this scene until his own death.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
So dogs prefer to hang around and interact with the creatures they've been hanging around with and interacting with since birth, in the individual sense, and since domestication, as a species. Glad we cleared that one up.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Having lived with humans for 400 years, dogs have learned their moods and how to appeal to them. Free room and board are the results. AI-based robots will learn about dogs (and humans) much faster. The new reality is that dogs will be robots best friends, and robots will be humans best friends. We haven't a chance.
Well, obviously, humans are easier to chew.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
Dogs have been selected for millenia for their ability to understand and interact with humans.
And even from the beginning had lots of social behaviour in common. Same hunting technique in packs against big preys, requiring the same kind of coordination (compare with other mammals hunting small preys alone). Same social structure with a stronger dominance ladder (compare to cats which have a looser hierarchy and are much more individual), etc.
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