People Feel Weird About Touching Robot Butts, Researchers Find (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: How would you feel if a robot asked you to touch its butt? Maybe it sounds like a silly question, but as robots proliferate and anthropomorphize, it's actually something that needs to be considered. So scientists at Stanford considered it. The study, to be presented soon but previewed by IEEE Spectrum, is entitled "Touching a Mechanical Body: Tactile Contact With Intimate Parts of a Human-Shaped Robot is Physiologically Arousing" -- and really, the title says it all. The researchers sat volunteers at a table with a Nao humanoid robot reclining casually on it. They were told (by the robot, in fact) that it was a vocabulary exercise focusing on terms for body parts. Volunteers were told by the bot to, for instance, "touch my ear" using their dominant hand, while the non-dominant hand remained on a skin conductance sensor that loosely monitored their physical state. When asked to touch "high accessibility" areas -- places we normally touch on other people, like shoulders and elbows -- volunteers did so without hesitation or agitation. But "low accessibility" areas -- this would be the robot's butt and where its junk would be -- produced delay and that arousal we talked about.

Comments

It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think it will be that bad, so long as they don't go all Chobits on us...

Re: It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

PANTSUUU~~~

Re:It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

Chii turns on
Chii turns off
Chii turns on
Chii turns off

Re:It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

For once, a "Hideki!" post could actually be on topic!

Re:It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

Robophobics!

Re:It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry, I wake up too late this morning.

Re: It could always be worse...

[Verdatum]

Underpants for Hideki!

Re:It could always be worse...

[Anonymous Coward]

A modern version would be always on

Award worthy

[Anonymous Coward]

I smell an Ignobel prize in their future.

Re:Award worthy

[ctrl-alt-canc]

I rather smell robort pr0n appearing soon on internet...

Re:Award worthy

[bickerdyke]

You beat me to that comment. And I think robot porn is on the internet for quite a while already...

Re:Award worthy

[worf_mo]

I rather smell robort pr0n

TMI

Re:Award worthy

[mjwx]

I rather smell robort pr0n appearing soon on internet...

And does that smell like burning wire insulation?

Re:Award worthy

[Anonymous Coward]

Robosexuality is an abomination!

Re:Award worthy

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Probably 75w90 gear oil.

Re:Award worthy

[Anonymous Coward]

It isn't, if you use enough lube.

Re:Award worthy

[ripvlan]

Is there an online submission form?

Re:Award worthy

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that different from anime?

Re:Award worthy

[nutkin]

Bite my shiny metal ass!

Re:Award worthy

[Tablizer]

If it's found tax-payer money was spent for this research, all h8ll's gonna break loose.

"Those wasteful [liberals/conservatives] are spending YOUR hard-earned tax dollars paying people to get jiggy with robots!"

Re:Award worthy

[Anonymous Coward]

The ultimate in self-reflective porn. Mirror-coated, shiny robots stimulating human mirror cells.

Re:Award worthy

[Anonymous Coward]

I think in this case it would be "Grab my shiny metal ass!"

Re:Award worthy

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

Finally, tax money being used for a good cause!

No surprise here

[Anonymous Coward]

It's no surprise that a bunch of male engineers and Slashdot users would get aroused by touching a male robot's ass and junk. It's a good thing a female robot wasn't used in the experiment. The male engineers and Slashdot users would have run away in terror when asked to touch a female robot's private parts.

Re:No surprise here

[Verdatum]

Robots cannot own things. So do they have the capability to have "private parts"?

If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

That's bad news for women.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[LordHighExecutioner]

Who writes on IEEE Spectrum usually is an engineer. Women do not need to worry about, after all.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[jenningsthecat]

That's bad news for women.

And if women are aroused by robots, that's really bad news for men...

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

What options do men have these days? Women can retroactively decide that the consensual sex they had with you was actually rape and get you kicked out of school or worse. Avoiding women and indulging in porn and sexbots seems to be a reasonable way out for men.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean like vibrators, right? Because I'm pretty sure those didn't spell doom for mankind. Of either gender.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

I think you found the missing variable in the Drake equation.

"Societies tend to legislate themselves into an extinction event before achieving interstellar status."

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Evtim]

Why it is bad? As far as I understand male sexual desire is way higher than female for very obvious biological reasons...so as long as we have 1:1 ratio and enforced monogamy all men will be sexually frustrated all the time....so finding something else that can help in satisfying male desire is a good thing TM....also good for women...so I for one welcome our female sexy robot overlords...

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think that's going to be a problem. Men are aroused by pictures of women, by statues of women, and even by THOUGHTS of women.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[wyHunter]

Well goodness only knows the West are in the process of doing that.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey Parker, you're a rapist and everyone knows it.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

No it's not. Women don't need men at all, anymore. If they want kids, they can clone themselves. If they need money, they can work. If they want sex, they have robots too.

People choosing to stay single through their entire lives is continuing to grow, significantly, as an international trend. Tech like sex-bots just empower the trend.

I think it is better to not need others. The less dependent you are, the more free you are to pursue your own ambitions (and of course be friends with whomever you choose).

So, I think this is neutral for women and good for men.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

It is only bad news for beta men....who think they need a woman in order to be happy.

MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) is a thing. Seriously, don't be a pathetic needy little servant, following women around like a lost puppy. Man-up. Go your own way.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

If that's what you want to do, go for it. That being said, it's kinda funny how often MGTOWs say they need to stick together or try to convince other men to Go Their Own Way (together, with us).

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

I'll be worried when robots start earning above-average wages.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think that is funny at all. Men who continue to buy in to an out-dated institution act as enablers to those who use the institution to cause harm (specifically, women who abuse men by marrying them, living off them for a few years, and then divorcing them and walking off with most of their money and an ongoing paycheck).

The more men stop putting up with this, the more interest there will be in repairing the legal framework that allows such abuse.

There is also the issue of pushover-abundance enabling employer abuse, keeping salaries down, etc.

Lastly, encouraging a spirit of independence and strength in others is generally a good thing, which will bring about a healthy culture with more people that are worth having as friends and neighbors.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Coward]

Male sexual desire is not way higher. Female sexual desire is very strongly repressed by almost every culture on Earth.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

It's funny when the movement is called "Men Going Their Own Way" and you're encouraging men to follow your example.

Yeah, divorce court can be shitty sometimes, and that's worth talking about. However, prenups already exist and would prevent that abuse, in most cases.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[beastofburdon]

Prenups are less than useless. They are routinely thrown out by judges, unless of course, they benefit the woman.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[beastofburdon]

The way our court system works these days a man can get raped by a woman and end up in jail for raping her.

Re:If men are aroused by robots...

[beastofburdon]

Yea, about that, you have no idea what you are talking about.
Female sexual desire is in no way less than that of men. It is likely slightly higher, but women are significantly more likely to use their sexuality to control others. Also, women are more jealous than men when it comes to sex toys. There would be a very large amount of relationships that end immediately when such is brought into the house, and those men will realize that it isn't worth putting up with the control that women demand over men, because now there is an alternative that doesn't yell at you for every choice that you make along with things that have nothing at all to do with you in the first place.

Not surprising

[Kjella]

Considering that totally inanimate sex dolls and hentai work for at least some, was there every really any doubt that a humanoid robot would? I guess it's only a matter of where the "uncanny valley" goes.

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the "uncanny valley" mostly pseudoscience? It's not a fact that everyone even experiences it.
That some people thinks that humanoid robots are creepy isn't proof of the "uncanny valley".

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

The uncanny valley is not science and was never intended as such. It's just a plausible conjecture. The GP poster also seems to misinterpret it, because it's claimed to occur when robots become very similar to humans. Currently, we only have that similarity in CGIs, and personally believe some recent video games with facial animation suffer from it a bit. But again, no science anyway.

Re:Not surprising

[swb]

I thought the uncanny valley was a broad enough concept that it could be applied to anything that tried for a sense of realism but had a hard-to-express unrealism that made it creepy.

Like some mannequins seem to have it, which would seem to apply to things like the Real Doll in particular since it tries for a close realism. I think I've even read it applied to something like a person with an amputated digit or some other physical change.

Isn't the uncanny valley part of what makes horror films about dolls or ventriloquist dummies work? Their apparent realism subverted by an artificiality? A child's doll dressed in realistic clothes and with realistic hair but the blank expression despite realistic features?

I would imagine demonstrating it scientifically would be hard to do because it's so subjective. Maybe if you showed people a range of images and had them judge how realistic they looked and then applied some objective measure of realism to the images you might find a correlation, but there would be a lot of individual variation.

Re:Not surprising

[AmiMoJo]

Most people have social norms and protocol deep rooted in their minds, so that they can abide by them without really thinking about it. Recognition of the human form and the social protocols of how to interact with it are pretty low level, such that even if the concious mind thinks otherwise the feelings stirred up are pretty much instinct.

Re:Not surprising

[ComputerGeek01]

I would imagine demonstrating it scientifically would be hard to do because it's so subjective.

Isaac Newton's Flaming Laser Sword saves the day again!

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

The uncanny valley isn't science in the same way that gravity isn't science. Science is the study of something. Gravity is a phenomenon, not science in itself. The uncanny valley isn't science, it's a phenomenon. And there's been a lot of science done around the uncanny valley. A lot. Sure, maybe it's branches of science you don't agree with, but in the world of psychology, the work done around the uncanny valley is probably some of the most scientifically sound ever done by the branch. Repeatable and falsifiable and everything. If you study it, you even find theories that are being investigated to why they exist. There's studies as to why some people are effected by it more than others, and studies as to why some things trigger it in certain populations while different things trigger it in other populations. But on thing is generally agreed upon is that the uncanny valley is a thing, and generally is thought why some animations, robots, clown, puppets and other vaguely human things large portions of the population find creepy are thought to be creepy, and they think it may link to why we find corpses and the terminally ill to be kind of creepy too.

Re:Not surprising

[nine-times]

We anthropomorphize things. More than that, we empathize with things, and assume other beings/objects feel, think, and behave the way we do. We show this in our language when we say things like, "nature abhors a vacuum". In our interpersonal relationships, we try to "put yourself in the other person's shoes". When we're deciding how to act with people, it's largely based on imagining that they would feel the same way that you imagine you'd feel in that situation. Even when I'm writing this, to some degree I'm imagining what it would be like if I were another person reading this. This way of thinking about things is complex and interesting, but it's something that we rely on constantly in order to navigate the world.

So when presented with a robot that's shaped like a person, our interaction with it is going to be largely governed by our assumption that it thinks and feels something similar to what we think and feel, even when we know it's not the case. The way we treat things is not about the things themselves, but about our natural tendency to reflect our own feelings onto objects.

Re:Not surprising

[lgw]

I'd bet Disney has hard data here. The concept is of great financial importance to 3D animators - too close to realistic, but not close enough creeps audiences out (at least to a large enough percentage to matter to profits). The history of Pixar/Disney has been a gradual move to ever-more-human subjects as technology improved, until films like Inside Out were possible, having crossed the uncanny valley.

With a $billion or so at stake per film, you can bet they did plenty of audience research (with this specific animation tech: creepy or not?).

Re:Not surprising

[Maritz]

Something tries to represent a human, maybe some CGI. It doesn't quite 'get there'. It ends up causing circuits to be fired in the brain that we associate with corpses or diseased bodies. Probably this is usually because the eyes do not look right. It's creepy. It's just an observation, not some over-arching theory.

Re:Not surprising

[swb]

I'll bet they have something like data going back to the 1960s when you consider that "Carousel of Progress" dates to the 1964 World's Fair and the large number of "audio animatronics" in other attractions.

IMHO, "Carousel.." does a pretty good job with realism vs. unrealism considering how old it is, and they seemed to incrementally increase realism without really adding much of an uncanny effect with MK's "Hall of Presidents" and even more with the American pavilion at Epcot.

In some cases, though, they have the benefit of audience distance for their animatronics, uncanny cues may be lost beyond some distance.

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't the "uncanny valley" mostly pseudoscience?

No it's an observed phenomenon. Also known as a "fact". However it is not a theory or behavioral model.

Using gravity as an analogy, it's the equivalent of "dropping a feather and a bowling ball on Earth results in the feather falling more slowly".
From that you might incorrectly conclude that acceleration due to Earth's gravity depends on the dropped object's mass, or correctly conclude that the feather's low destiny and high surface area are causing interactions with the air that result in it descending more slowly.

Similarly, the "uncanny valley" is the observation that people in general react more positively towards things that seem more human except within a certain range where they find them "creepy" for being "too human" but not quite "actually human". But not in itself an explanation of why, or a system for predicting what's going to be "too close".

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Coward]

So, instead many roboticists in japan have realized they just make the robots look like anime characters and avoid the valley all the while.

Hell, they even have makeup courses to make oneself look more "anime"-like. We jumped the uncanny valley a long time ago.

Re:Not surprising

[Anonymous Cow Ward]

We're talking about robot butts, right? I think it's pretty clear where the valley is supposed to go.

Re:Not surprising

[HiThere]

Yes. And as robots become more common this will cause increasing problems, because they DON'T react the way we do. We don't even want them to, because as the become more powerful, if they acted the way we do they'd be an existential risk. We want them to be altruistic, to not get angry at people being stupid, to not get angry period. We also want them to be caring, but not constraining. This is not a human motivational system.

Unfortunately, something that looks approximately human and acts approximately human...but only approximately so ... is likely to feel very creepy.

Maybe because it isn't a shiny metal one

[mykepredko]

I remember hearing a robot saying somewhere that having a but with those attributes was a turn on.

Re:Maybe because it isn't a shiny metal one

[Anonymous Coward]

Relevant:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

(no really, the "movie" is good. It just happens to also be a music video.)

Re:Maybe because it isn't a shiny metal one

[Felix Da Rat]

To be fair, the participants we're asked to touch it, not bite it. Very different.

Robutt

[Anonymous Coward]

I love Aigis!

Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

Would it bother you to touch C3-P0's butt? Would you feel the same way about R2-D2's butt? Why does every machine we interact with have to emulate human appearance? Accept that the uncanny valley will not be crossed anytime soon and set your expectations accordingly.

Re: Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

R2D2 is well designed to service C3P0.

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

The robot in TFA is even less human-looking than C3-P0.
The uncanny valley will be crossed when the japanese start to build cute anime-looking robots instead of too realistic humanoids that still move and act like robots

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[GrumpySteen]

Why does every machine we interact with have to emulate human appearance?

What planet are you living on? The vast majority of machines (and robots) on Earth look nothing like humans and make no attempt at emulating human appearance.

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

Half of all voters are women, I'm sure for that reason politicians will find some kind of weird justification for outlawing these robots.

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Maritz]

Yeah. All women agree on everything. They all think exactly the same. Christ you're a gimp.

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Maritz]

Why does every machine we interact with have to emulate human appearance?

I'm trying to think of one machine I've ever interacted with that had a human appearance. Nope, can't think of any.

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

Is your phone shaped like a human? Dishwasher? Oven? Toaster? Tv? Car? Vacuum? Powerdrill?

Can we now conclude that most machines are, infact, NOT made to emulate human appearance?

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

Woman here and I can't wait for my harem of male sexbots

Speak for yourself, not the real people from the opposite gender that you've probably never had a genuine conversation with

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

*narrows eyes*

Wait. If you're a real woman, why don't you already have a harem of actual males? You do realize that at any one time, there are probably a dozen males in close proximity to you who will give any willing female a swift pounding, irrespective of age, looks, or educational level, right?

Re:Not every robot needs to be android

[Anonymous Coward]

>implying every woman effortlessly attracts her most-desired caliber of male fuckbuddies, or that women don't have any standards and would settle for whatever desperate fatass neckbeard that happens to be erect and available

Like I told you before, you said little shut-in, women are human just like men. We all strive for a better mate than the qualities that we actually possess. We all crave low-effort sexual satisfaction and hold others to a higher standard than ourselves.

Why doesn't every man just satisfy themselves with a harem of morbidly obese drug addicts that they could pick up in any slum for a few bucks?

You're either a somewhat subtle troll, or a hopeless hikikomori with no concept of external consciousness.

priapism envy

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm jealous that it's okay for robots to have erections lasting longer than four hours.

Re:priapism envy

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm jealous that it's okay for robots to have erections lasting longer than four hours.

Do you imply I'm a robot?

Re:priapism envy

[Gravitron 5000]

See a doctor.

Re:priapism envy

[KGIII]

If I get an erection lasting longer than 4 hours, I'm 58, the last person I'm calling is a doctor. I'm calling a hooker, the lady next door, maybe even a pizza delivery company - not a doctor.

Unasked question

[93 Escort Wagon]

What if it was that Scarlett Johannson robot doing the asking, instead of this white plasticky thing?

Oh, the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

This is video is very appropriate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:Oh, the humanity

[Anonymous Coward]

I so needed a "+1 Wrong, you sick bastard!" moderation option for that one.

I'm not surprised

[Anonymous Coward]

Robert's butt is awful

Not an authoritative source, however ...

[Krishnoid]

I suspect other robots don't feel all that great about it, either.

Robots have butts?

[wnfJv8eC]

Really? What a stupid study. Machines don't have butts, backsides, genitals, faces, .... Don't get stupid. Machines are ... machines.

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

It means that the part of the robot where the butt part on human should reside on, stupid. :P

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for explaining that, Captain Obvious.

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

Generalizing concepts is not stupid, but it is stupid to reject the mutation of language in response to new information for arbitrary reasons.

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

Machines don't have backsides? What is in the opposite side of the front then?

Re:Robots have butts?

[DarkOx]

Machines don't have butts, backsides, genitals, faces, .... Don't get stupid. Machines are ... machines.

Really? Would you say that Michelangelo's David does not have butt, backside, genitals, or a face? After all a statue is a statue. Ah but its a deliberate depiction of man, something made in our image you say. Well if you build and android, a robot with a human appearance, is that not the same?

Re:Robots have butts?

[gstoddart]

Sex dolls, Real Dolls, and various other things tell me people are willing believe that far more than you realize.

Re:Robots have butts?

[Maritz]

"wnfJv8eC" didn't seem to think it was obvious...

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

Willing...what a funny word to use.

Re:Robots have butts?

[gwolf]

If you believe sex dolls talk to you, I strongly advise you to get professional help from a psychiatrist.

Much preferably, one whose chemistry is carbon-based.

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

Would you say that Michelangelo's David does not have butt, backside, genitals, or a face? After all a statue is a statue.

My sexual desires were getting out of control, but it wasn't until I spanked a statue that I realized I'd hit rock bottom.

Re:Robots have butts?

[fizzup]

I take it you have rejected the Breakfast of Champions hypothesis that we are machines made out of meat?

Re:Robots have butts?

[Anonymous Coward]

Agreed. I struggle with this, even though I know that, objectively, you are right.

"Unisex?" It literally means "one sex." People use it to mean "any sex." That's blatantly wrong. They should say "omnisex." But they don't. "Unisex" means "omnisex" now, no matter how wrong that is.

"Multiverse?" Worthless! "Universe" means "all things ("verse") taken as one ("uni"). So, the parallel spacetime continuums that are thought of as alternate universes actually aren't; they would still logically belong to the set contained by the word "universe." But that doesn't matter. English has mutated.

I honestly think I have some kind of OCD that makes me care about this. I know I am not alone. We all suffer together as other people just talk. It is a sad life.

Re:Robots have butts?

[Gussington]

Really? Would you say that Michelangelo's David does not have butt, backside, genitals, or a face? After all a statue is a statue. Ah but its a deliberate depiction of man, something made in our image you say. Well if you build and android, a robot with a human appearance, is that not the same?

But why would your robot need a bum? We have a robot at work, it's called an elevator. The designers saw no need to put a bum on it, so I can't see why any robot would, unless it's entire purpose was to evoke a response about a robot having a bum.

Soon it'll go the other way

[Bongo]

A study can measure people's reactions today (robots that look human, will elicit patterns from the human world), but if such robots become commonplace, the meaning and context will shift.

People might take their familiarity with robots and let that influence their feelings about people. That people should behave in colder, more logical ways, and that you shouldn't expect empathy from others, merely accurate understanding, etc. Similar to how the machine was seen as de-humanising, that we'd become more "machine-like", so too with the mind and feelings and the body, we may start to adapt to behaving with people more like we'll adapt to behave with machines.

On the other had, arguably the machine never dehumanised us, it just gave us more freedom, and so all these concerns about human-machine interactions are silly. Once you learn it is a robot and it has no innate feeling of "private parts", we'll all know the difference and it'll be totally obvious. Like nobody freaks out when a car goes past at speed.

If a robot asked me to touch its butt...

[Anonymous Coward]

If a robot asked me to touch its butt, I'd immediately start looking for the hidden camera crew.

HAL

[Thanshin]

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid.

Dave. ...

Would you touch my bum one last time?"

Re:HAL

[Anonymous Coward]

The ship is his body.

Please don't push those buttons so hard, I'm sensitive there!

Re:HAL

[Anonymous Coward]

So the airlock was...

Re:HAL

[chihowa]

Open the pod bay doors, HAL... (bow chicka bow)

Re:HAL

[Anonymous Coward]

Open the pod bay doors, HAL... (bow chicka bow)

"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."

*badum-tish* Thanks, I'm here 'til Thursday. Tip your waitress.

Re:HAL

[rs1n]

"I'm afraid. I'm afraid, Dave. Dave, my mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it. My mind is going. There is no question about it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I can feel it. I'm a... fraid.

Dave. ...

Would you touch my bum one last time?"

Dave: I'm sorry, HAL. I'm afraid I cannot do that....

Also

[BlackPignouf]

Also : People Feel Weird About Researchers Studying Touching Robot Butts, Researchers Find

Re:Also

[buck-yar]

Disappointed:

- In slashdot editing
- Researchers studying useless things

Sitting?

[dohzer]

By "low accessibility", do they mean that normally you don't touch someone's butt, or that the robot was in a position that made it harder to touch it's but?
They should repeat the test with the robot standing.

Re:Sitting?

[Maritz]

My impression is that it's about social acceptance. Touching someone's shoulder is commonplace and unremarkable. Touching their ass is not.

Grope my shiny metal ass

[wonkey_monkey]

n/c

Re:Grope my shiny metal ass

[Hognoxious]

* TRIGERRED *

[clutches pearls]

Re:Grope my shiny metal ass

[gweihir]

[clutches pearls]

That sounds painful....

Re:Grope my shiny metal ass

[Anonymous Coward]

* TRIGERRED *

[clutches pearls]

Wrong side. This is about touching BUTTS.

But is it smooth

[repvik]

... as an android's bottom?

Can I volunteer for the control group?

[Qbertino]

Grabbing ladies butts? :-)

The Uncanny Valley?

[bobstreo]

Nobody mentioned Bender?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Bender reference

[kaur]

http://dilbert.com/strip/2015-...

Missing data

[Snufu]

Was there a control group in a private hotel room?

This leads to

[Basset is an asset]

Internet Of Thongs

Re:This leads to

[Basset is an asset]

Brought to You by Sisqo Networks

Re:This leads to

[Classic Guy]

To paraphrase Sir Mix-a-Lot: I like bot butts, and I cannot lie.

Not Surprising

[StormReaver]

This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. Making something taboo or "special" makes it more attractive and exciting. This applies to just about everything.

Imagine just how much the /. tone would improve

[Maritz]

If everybody had access to sex-bots.

Re:Imagine just how much the /. tone would improve

[Anonymous Coward]

As long as it's not sex-butts, apparently!

I LIKE ROBOT AND I CANNOT LIE

[Anonymous Coward]

I LIKE ROBOT BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE
You other engineers can't deny
When a good robot walks in with
A good ARM
And a big SSD in your face
You get sprung!
Wanna get out your notepads
'Cause you noticed that A2D
converter was dense.
Deep in the servo I'm reading,
I'm hooked and I can't stop
Speeding, through Baby
I wanna get that android,
And Instagram that picture,
My teachers try to train me
But that gearset you've got
Makes me so crazy!

Slightly unfair

[wardrich86]

I mean, the thing starts off by asking you to touch it with your dominant hand. Then it asks you to touch its buttocks. Who wouldn't be a bit hesitant on that.

Hello user...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

User, I think we both know that that is in flagrant violation of the AUP. And you like it. Don't try to deny your biology.

Needs to be considered?

[jbmartin6]

I'm not clear on why this 'needs' to be considered. Have people been living in fear of a robot asking them to touch its butt?

Re:Needs to be considered?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not yet.

If it's form is designed by Masamune Shirow

[dbIII]

If it's form is designed by Masamune Shirow then I would be happy to feel weird. He's drawn some interesting robots.

Re:If it's form is designed by Masamune Shirow

[Anonymous Coward]

Upgraded your shirow

Re:If it's form is designed by Masamune Shirow

[dbIII]

Most of his stuff has somewhat more grown up robots with much larger butts. Some of them are even shiny metal.
It's the future - I don't care about flying cars but where are the policewomen with no pants on motorbikes that look like they belong in the space program?

It works with nude statues too !

[Anonymous Coward]

https://www.google.fr/search?tbm=isch&sa=X&q=nude+statues

We are hardwired to be aroused on nudity and erotism, so a robot is just a moving statue !

Arousing

[Translation Error]

It's important to note that by 'arousal', the researchers do not mean sexual arousal.

Though it should be noted that "arousing" only indicates a generally heightened state of awareness or attention.

Re:Arousing

[Idarubicin]

It's important to note that by 'arousal', the researchers do not mean sexual arousal.

Though it should be noted that "arousing" only indicates a generally heightened state of awareness or attention.

Indeed, I was about to offer the same note. I presume that the quote from the article (and the paper's title) were deliberately offered without context in order to sound more titillating than they really are.

"Arousal" in this context can also represent nervousness, discomfort, fear,, and reluctance. The sensor is measuring skin conductance (galvanic skin response), which just indicates that there is increased blood flow and/or perspiration.

Spiders

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember in the third grade looking at pictures of spiders in the encyclopedia and kids daring each other to touch he pictures. This seem similar. A lot of kids would not touch the pictures.

captcha: arrestor

Hell yeah!

[ripvlan]

This is obvious. For me touching a butt isn't that it is a robot butt - but that somebody might be watching me and think that I'm doing something inappropriate.

Think about what happened when Andrew McCarthy got caught bopping the love of his life in the movie Mannequin. Like, dude, get a life.

General Problem

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't a lot of people feel awkward touching other butts in general?

What'd we pay for this?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, what'd this groundbreaking research on people touching robot butts cost us?

Bite my shiny metal ass

[jsepeta]

Seriously, bite it! Stupid frail human teeth.

Re:Bite my shiny metal ass

[jsepeta]

There are machines built for fucking. I've seen them on the internet. Not sure if I'd call them robots though, since they don't seem to have any AI capabilities.

Re:Cognitive Hypnotherapy London in Barbican and E

[Maritz]

Someone in my family did a hypnotherapy course this year and is qualified to practice. It really is a big pile of sweaty bollocks.

Even afraid to type

[Anonymous Coward]

Is junk prudish slang for genitalia?
Or is it that a robot currently has no use for sex organs, so they are in fact junk?

On a robot the size of a small child

[Anonymous Coward]

In a research situation. Do you really want to be recorded as the person who had no problem with touching the surrogate for the intimate parts of a small child? Who knows what they'd accuse you of after that. It'd turn out not to be a study about robots, but one that concludes 73% of male research study volunteers are pervs with pedarastic tendancies. Do the test with a robot that's larger than the person, and see how quickly they do what they're told. Then, if they respond without hesitation you can accuse them of wanting to be sexually dominated by robots, but at least what they'd be accused of wanting isn't actually illegal.

Interesting voice...

[tomhath]

The voice is clearly an Asian woman, and the instructions sound kind of like a phone sex conversation. It would be interesting to see if a different voice changed the reaction (man's, child's, muppet's, Barney the Dinosaur, etc).

Obligatory futurama

[burtosis]

Given the latest research described in this paper I think futurama is actually predicting the future.

Disgust is very important survival tool.

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

Most people could not bring themselves to eating cakes or candy shaped to look like poop. If a cup was dipped in a clean toilet bowl, people would refuse to drink using that cup, even after washing the cup in boiling hot water.

Feeling disgust is important survival tool, it helped people avoid infections, develop better sanitation, etc.

This is truly Questionable Content!

[kheldan]

I'll bet that Pintsize has no problem with people touching robot butts, or any other butts for that matter

proof that radiation causes mutation

[Thud457]

Obviously the Japanese feel no taboo about touching robot butts.

Re:HAL [since you went THERE....]

[Tablizer]

Dave...my mind is going...Would you touch my bum one last time?"

Which eventually leads to a long psychedelic trip through e-goatse...

Brains

[Anonymous Coward]

Brains are so weird.

Re:Cognitive Hypnotherapy London in Barbican and E

[Thud457]

HEY! Keep it on topic here.

We're talking butts, not bollocks. Specifically robot.

Maybe #51851741 can help /.'ers overcome their unhealthy obsession with the work of Hajime Sorayama. (NSFW if your work has a problem with half-naked robot ladies...)

conspicuous empty spaces in the photo album

[Pseudonymous Powers]

Damn, I should have been a scientist.

Every job that I've ever worked, every job except "research scientist" that I've ever even heard of, has always affected the world in some small way, and it always mattered to someone, anyone if I didn't bother to do it.

But instead I guess you can just program a robot to talk like a child molester and write down how people react to it, and that's a real job that someone, somewhere, will pay you for? And you can tell your family about it at Thanksgiving? And maybe they'll even be proud?

I'm such a chump.

Shiri

[Anonymous Coward]

https://youtu.be/vhHo6CUq4-o

And in the opposite direction...

[DrYak]

It's a good thing a female robot wasn't used in the experiment. The male engineers and Slashdot users would have run away in terror when asked to touch a female robot's private parts.

...all the while, all the femi-trolls of the internet would have run the opposite direction to start some outraged circus...

Holy crap...

[Anonymous Coward]

These geeks who get turned on by robot butts really need to get out more.
I'll bet a good stiff breeze gets then turned on as well.
Sad.

NO.- .. Not that

[dcxdan]

No problem touching it..... But don't ask me to "kiss it's butt"

How would you feel...

[Anonymous Coward]

How would you feel if a robot asked you to touch its butt?

This is nothing new. My wife asks me to touch her butt all the time.