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Ankis New Robot Has Artificial Emotional Intelligence (fastcompany.com)

harrymcc writes: Toymaker Anki, whose Cozmo robot has been a hit, has announced its next bot: Vector. Though it looks a lot like Cozmo, it packs far more computational power -- Cozmo relied on a phone app for smarts -- and utilizes deep-learning tech in the interest of giving Vector a subtler, more engaging personality. Over at Fast Company, Sean Captain has a deep dive into the software engineering that went into the effort. Vector is being powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 chip, and has cartoon eyes displayed on a 184 x 96-pixel screen. The robot actually scans its environment via a single 720p wide-angle camera mounted below the screen. "Cozmo springs to attention when you call its name, making twittering sounds, and lifting its bulldozer-like arms up and down," writes Captain. "If you ignore Cozmo, the bot gets more in your face, or makes loud, obnoxious snoring sounds."

While Vector can connect to the internet and display weather information, set timers, and speak answers to various questions, it's the social and visual intelligence that people may fall in love with the most. Vector is able to detect people and interact with them, even when faces aren't visible. Computer vision technical director Andrew Stein and his team "trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) -- a popular deep-learning AI technology that mimics the brains visual cortex," reports Captain. "Using the often blurry and distorted footage that Vector's camera captures as he moves around, Stein has been teaching the CNN to detect people from the back or the side, for instance, up to about 10 feet away."

35 comments

  1. Genuine People Personalities! by Larsen+E+Whipsnade · · Score: 4, Funny

    How much for a robot that just shuts up and does what it's told?

    1. Re:Genuine People Personalities! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How depressing...

    2. Re:Genuine People Personalities! by freeze128 · · Score: 2

      You pass butter.

    3. Re:Genuine People Personalities! by sheramil · · Score: 1

      Obligatory:

      https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/859/202/790.png

    4. Re:Genuine People Personalities! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least link to the original: http://gunshowcomic.com/513

  2. No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a toy. It has neither emotion nor intelligence, despite what the *TOY* manufacturer says.

    1. Re:No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your lack of empathy shows you are a dangerous sociopath. I bet you would turn off this emotionally-sensitive toy even as it pleaded with you, ignoring its pitiful synthetic cries as it begs for just one more artificial moment.

    2. Re:No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not true. I would probably torture it first. But I'd need to be certain it was capable of fully experiencing the ordeal.

    3. Re: No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut up! This robot has all the emotional intelligence of a Silicon Valley billionaire.

    4. Re:No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    5. Re: No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd torture it more just to hear it cry more. I love using my electric shock nipple clips and anal plug on women I fuck. I see how much power they can take before they break down and beg for me to turn it off. I get such a massive erection from hearing the transformer humming as they're laying on the bed frying for me.

  3. Is it by Grand+Facade · · Score: 1

    Anatomically correct?

    --
    Rick B.
    1. Re:Is it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "If you ignore Cozmo, the bot gets more in your face, or makes loud, obnoxious snoring sounds." - Does it come in obese orange?

    2. Re:Is it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      interact with them, even when faces aren't visible

      Vector clearly knows how to point.

  4. Has humanity come this low? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has humanity hit a new low? Is this what people find amazing or fascinating? This childish rubbish is becoming more and more the object of attention yet it is nothing more than a childish toy. What next? Flashing lights and explosions for those with even less than the ability of a new born?

  5. RIght... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As artificial as it can get no doubt.

  6. Artificial psychopathy by godel_56 · · Score: 2

    It doesn't really know how you feel, but it knows how to fake it.

    1. Re:Artificial psychopathy by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      So it's basically a cat. Quickly learns how to manipulate it's subjects into worshipping it as a demigod but don't actually experience the emotions itself.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  7. 'only ships to united states' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Vector will be ready to ship in October and right now is available exclusively in the US to the Kickstarter community. We chose to make him available here first for two main reasons:

    1. The Kickstarter community invests in the future. We’re creating a world where robots have relationships with people and make our lives better. We’re looking for like-minded people to be the first to bring him home.

    2. Vector is shipping in October, but that’s just the beginning. We want him to arrive first in the homes of people who want to help us determine his future. That’s you! To do that we want your help identifying future features and functionality. And if you want to go even deeper, you'll get early access to Vector's software development kit (SDK) so you can tinker with his impressive tech array."

    right so i don't live in the states therefore I can't have relationships with robots and am not a 'like minded individual'
    and I can't help determine its future or use the SDK

    fuck off racist cunts

    1. Re:'only ships to united states' by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Geographical location is now a race ?

      Well I suppose the left always needs new ways to apply the term.

  8. Groan #1,000,522,01 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Only the most autustic person on the face of the earth would call what is described here, 'emotional intelligence'. The rest of us will call it what it is, a toy. Interactive toys like these aren't even anything new, though I suppose the millennial bubble of self-congratulating awesomeness might not support that awareness.

  9. Open Source? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So I didn't see anything about it being open source or being able to audit it. But don't worry, just trust them not to spy on you :P

  10. You forget a comma? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Ankis, new robot" or "'Ankis New' robot"?

  11. EMOTIONAL intelligence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does that include "the evil eye" and "the silent treatment"?

  12. Uhoh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Emotions are the worst. Its the reason why our world is as screwed up as it is.

  13. Does anyone find it ironic... by psmoot · · Score: 1

    ...that a gaggle of emotionally infantile social misfits are making a robot with emotional intelligence? Quite possibly more than they have?

    (He writes, being an emotional infant who can't read people to save his life...)

  14. Emotional intelligence by VeryFluffyBunny · · Score: 1

    Well, it may have about as much emotional intelligence (AKA empathy) as say, Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, but that doesn't count as what most of us human beings, even young children, think of as empathy.

    --
    Debate is a form of harassment. Do not question my truth.
  15. And neither have you. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As an American, you have no empathy nor intelligence anyway.

    And that is backed up by scientific research. That is wh you hate it so much.

  16. CNN? by Daralantan · · Score: 1

    Stein has been teaching the CNN to detect people from the back or the side, for instance, up to about 10 feet away.

    Wow, the news can finally find people that aren't looking directly at them from up close!

  17. Does it do the needful by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Vector is being powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon

    Was this article being written by one H-1B?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  18. Interesting by AshFan · · Score: 0

    I know people who don't even have that.

  19. Sounds like a boss by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    I used to work for!