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Children 'At Risk of Robot Influence' (bbc.co.uk)

Posted by msmash on from the closer-look dept.

An anonymous reader shares a report: Forget peer pressure, future generations are more likely to be influenced by robots, a study suggests. The research, conducted at the University of Plymouth, found that while adults were not swayed by robots, children were. The fact that children tended to trust robots without question raised ethical issues as the machines became more pervasive, said researchers. They called for the robotics community to build in safeguards for children. Those taking part in the study completed a simple test, known as the Asch paradigm, which involved finding two lines that matched in length. Known as the conformity experiment, the test has historically found that people tend to agree with their peers even if individually they have given a different answer. In this case, the peers were robots. When children aged seven to nine were alone in the room, they scored an average of 87% on the test. But when the robots joined them, their scores dropped to 75% on average. Of the wrong answers, 74% matched those of the robots.

81 comments

  1. Here come the Pedobots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There will be robots programmed to abuse children soon. Get ready for it.

    1. Re: Here come the Pedobots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Echo tells me not to talk to researchers...

  2. Little white robot van. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Funny

    Before we know it, Alexa is going to start driving around a windowless van offering free Ice Cream and a chance to pet her pet roomba. We must act now.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:Little white robot van. by Zorro · · Score: 1

      Pedobear?

    2. Re:Little white robot van. by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Just say no to robophilia.

    3. Re:Little white robot van. by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Pedobearobot.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Little white robot van. by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

      I'm more worried about kids getting hooked on old person medication.

      --
      Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    5. Re:Little white robot van. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True, but watch out for robophobia. If detected, contact the Doctor as quick as you can...

    6. Re:Little white robot van. by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Before we know it, Alexa is going to start driving around a windowless van offering free Ice Cream and a chance to pet her pet roomba. We must act now.

      Bot or not; I want ice-cream and to pet a Roomba. Where do I sign up?

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  3. Teddyruxpin says... by Zorro · · Score: 0

    You must kill mommy and daddy! Wait till they go to sleep and get the big kitchen knife. Trust me they are EVIL!

    1. Re: Teddyruxpin says... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surprisingly, this would have improved my childhood.

    2. Re:Teddyruxpin says... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Up on a chair behind the door - hey diddle diddle,

      Hear comes Papa
      So up with the chopper and
      Split him down the middle

      Now children, pick up all daddy's stocks and shares, and place them in a brown envelope addressed to:

      Uncle Harry
      c/o BBC CHildren's programs
      London WC1 1RR

      (Children's programs are not what they used to be in my day)

  4. Mechanical response by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They were asking the wrong questions of adults, who are just as easily swayed.

    Robbie 247 (robot voice): "Let..me..masturbate..you."

    "Ok."

    See? Easy to sway.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    1. Re:Mechanical response by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "And we shall serve them and you will be happy, and controlled." It was the 60s. Androids were masturbating humans. It was paradise. Or was it?

    2. Re:Mechanical response by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      My modded Roomba does that now

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  5. Do you have stairs in your house? by bano · · Score: 2

    I am protected.

    1. Re: Do you have stairs in your house? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      im gay

    2. Re:Do you have stairs in your house? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am protected.

      That's what they used to say about Daleks, too. Used to.

    3. Re:Do you have stairs in your house? by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      I am protected.

      Are you at the bottom of the stairs?

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    4. Re: Do you have stairs in your house? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Iâ(TM)m protected through old glory insurance.

    5. Re:Do you have stairs in your house? by grep+-v+'.*'+* · · Score: 1

      Do you have stairs in your house?

      I am protected.

      Ever seen Doctor Who's Daleks -- The New Generation? Link

      And don't tell me Siri hasn't noticed companies selling drones, Rooba's, and duct tape.

      --
      If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
    6. Re:Do you have stairs in your house? by umghhh · · Score: 1

      come to think of it maybe Daleks just wanted to cuddle with us and in our silliness we misunderstood what they wanted. They could not handle rejection and went on with their Exterminate! thing only because they sought for love?

    7. Re:Do you have stairs in your house? by dissy · · Score: 1

      Yes. Grandma is protected at the bottom of the stairs.

    8. Re: Do you have stairs in your house? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know we have flying robots too right? We call them drones. Soon we/I will fill the sky with them, to blot out the sun...

      What it will solve global warming and get rid of my nemisis...

    9. Re:Do you have stairs in your house? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pushbots will shove.

  6. Alternately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The fact that children tended to trust anyone and anything without question raised ethical issues

    That's how school works.
    That's how advertising works.
    That's how most social interactions work.

    The kids who raise questions are punished. The kids who blindly obey are often rewarded, rarely dead, and sometimes scarred for life unable to speak of their trauma. In any case, they don't complain to warn others of the danger of compliance, at least not in a timely manner.

    The robots in this story are just a controlled proxy for other voices.

    1. Re:Alternately by MoralCharacter · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure what situation they're envisioning that has robots corrupting our youth here. Are they worried there will be robo-hobos wandering our streets, trying to get our kids addicted to heroin? As far as I know, where we will have robots in the forseeable future will be: Factories, warehouses, supposedly fast food joints, nursing homes if Japan has it's way, operating rooms... Was there a concern that robots would be in classrooms? I have no doubt that if you replaced that """robot""" with a cheerful looking puppet - the kid would just as well believe it as they did the robot. It sounds a lot like these """robots""" were basically over glorified puppets anyways. I honestly don't see robots becoming a feature of schools anytime soon though - we're not making a whole lot of progress on the 'genuine AI' front despite what IBM would have us believe. Regardless - most schools can't even afford enough computers for more than a single room. Are they somehow going to have the money to buy a robot?

      Totally a fun thought experiment sure - but this isn't a thought experiement, they went and did a study that doesn't tell us anything especially new. We've known they're overly trusting - who else could you get to believe in an imaginary fat man who shimmies down chimneys to give out presents? Replacing a puppet with a robot doesn't shock me at all. Have a guy dress up as the easter bunny and do the study - I'm dead certain you'll see the same results! Reality says we're no where near making a robot 'smart' enough that it could somehow be more corrupting than even a smartphone - people certainly don't have problems with their toddlers watching disturbing 'kid friendly' videos on youtube with their iPhone. At least a smartphone fits in your purse.

    2. Re:Alternately by TheDarkener · · Score: 1

      This. "Robot" is a variable. It can be substituted with *anything*.

      Children are ripe to take influence from almost anything to heart given the circumstances (namely if they trust, look up to or are intimidated by the influencer). They haven't had enough experience to stand up for themselves confidently in most cases, that's why we have parents/family, teachers and other trusted peers/role models.

      And now robots / AI.

      Here's the problem: Those who want to influence others will always try to find a way. The only thing we can do in this case is to build a body of engineers that stand for the ethical use of robots. I wouldn't say it'd be much different than the Free Software movement. There's probably already something like that out there. We need to rally behind these bodies and fight for the continued development of ethical and openly configurable robot/AI systems.

      --
      It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
    3. Re:Alternately by umghhh · · Score: 1

      Why would you not use robots as drug dealers? If it saves costs and improves security of the delivery then why not? After all if other businesses do it, then drug lords would do it too.

    4. Re:Alternately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most likely it's just a bunch of adults who hold anti-robot bias being surprised children don't hold the same biases. (sort of like racists being surprised their white kids like Jazz)
      In particular the experiment requires the subject and confederates be presented as and treated as peers, given the same tasks, asked the same questions, etc.. Where an adult will see a robot and assume it's operating from a script, a child doesn't have those pre-conceptions so when the adult examiner treats the robots as the child's peers the child assumes the robots must be their peers and acts accordingly including doubting their own answer when it disagrees with the consensus or lying to fit in.

      The only real context in which this specifically would be an issue would be something like social media where a distributed automated campaign can crate a false impression of popularity. If unmasking bot accounts as such doesn't discredit them than they in theory become more effective. However in reality effort to unmask bots is rarely made, and humans spread nonsense on their own without bots so it's unlikely the bots are a worse influence than humans on average.

      For it to actually matter that it's robots rather than humans in the peer group we need to be in the middle of some kind of robot civil rights crisis which is a pretty long way off.

    5. Re:Alternately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was thinking more like: Scores fell to 70% when their friends were in the room ;)

      Alone in a room vs someone else robot or not..I imagine score will suffer duh

    6. Re:Alternately by MoralCharacter · · Score: 1

      I totally get you - but we're- I mean they're going to need to wait for them to be economical to use over your dirt cheap homeless and hooligans. If a robocop busts your small time dealer - you just go get another one off the street. A robot? Sure it's funny making the cops unbolt it from the concrete in a back alley and try to get a crane in there to haul it off to robo-jail. But it's a cost thing - even when you account for your meatbag dealers taking off the top and using some of the product, you'll still come out ahead compared to having to order a new robot from China.

      Now you want to talk about automating the cooking and packing process - that's where the money's at.

    7. Re:Alternately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's more like this will be used to alter children desires according to interest, for brand manipulation and the bilking of $.

      Oh you think the "supreme" brand is dumb, all your peers think its the shit and even the super popular people and their social media followers all think its awesome.
      Saying it is "dumb" will have an opportunity cost. (think about being a kid in a public school in the 90's saying Bigge was a shitbag on the east coast or Dre on the west coast.)

      I think they are afraid that not wanting to rock the boat can work with non human participants.

    8. Re:Alternately by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Robots are exclusive and kind of cool - today. So of course kids are impressed. When I was young, some teenagers where afraid to go near a demo computer - worried that the 'supersmart' computer might uncover that they had been drinking the day before!

      Today, nobody think like that about computers. And when every household has a number of worn dinged-up robots that you order around to clean floors & such; then, no kid will be "impressed" by a robot. Just as todays kids are not impressed by computers - or vacuum cleaners.

  7. its already happened once before by nimbius · · Score: 3, Funny

    Soda machine: hey...psssst...hey kid...
    innocent child: a...talking soda machine?
    Soda machine: yeah kid so what? hey listen....you wanna...pass a little Turing test?
    Child: I dunno, my mom says Turing proposed that a human evaluator would judge natural language conversations between a human and a machine designed to generate human-like responses.
    Soda machine: yeah sure but listen Common understanding has it that the purpose of the Turing test is not specifically to determine whether a computer is able to fool an interrogator into believing that it is a human, but rather whether a computer could imitate a human. calculator: yeah kid! come on! just one Turing test!

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  8. Re: I am autistic and gay... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

           

  9. It's worse than we thought by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

    So....what you're saying is when Skynet eventually wakes up it will be assisted by hordes of child soldiers? We should make a movie to warn people; call it Bots of No Nation.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  10. I am APK the LORD of HOSTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am APK the great "LORD of HOSTS", a.k.a. AlecStaar from ArsTechnica or Alexander Peter Kowalski.

    See subject & APK Hosts File Engine 2.0++ 64-bit for Linux h t t p : / / I . a m . a . f u c k i n g / a s s h o l e . r e t a r d . z i p (remove spaces between characters & download).

    I am the godlike creator of various GUI front-ends for other people's configuration files.

    I think only one person stalks me as I shitpost and I dusted them on another site but in reality I am widely hated all.

    When people state the truth about me I get really mad and accuse them of projecting which is something I do all the time.

    Don't call me out on anything as I will state that you are a webmaster and that I cut off your revenue stream.

    You must be conspiring with the Jews and Soros if you disagree with me.

    Mistaking mockery and parody for impersonation is how I think people flatter me because I can't possibly understand that they detest me.

    See me lash out at one person for 2 weeks straight and claim everyone who mocks my retarded ass is actually them.

    Bask in my greatness as I post my advertisements in discussions where they don't belong, by the way this is every discussion I post in.

    I demand your age sex and location so that I can threaten to show up and kick your ass and will call you a pussycake but am actually too scared to actually do anything but be a keyboard warrior.

    Watch as I claim I am world class and a winner but in reality I am a fucking loser.

    Witness my descent into madness

    APK

    1. Re:I am APK the LORD of HOSTS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      +1 informative.

  11. back in the 70s by iggymanz · · Score: 1

    we were told kids were at risk of television influence...so were adults. If it's electric, it's bad for the kids.

    1. Re:back in the 70s by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And before that it was rock and roll. And before that it was comic books.

      So I don't think "if it's electric, it's bad for the kids" is accurate. More like "if those in charge don't like it, it's bad for the kids".

    2. Re:back in the 70s by umghhh · · Score: 1

      There was a story here few months ago - the guy was fired by faulty apparently autonomous HR system. After the weeks of forcing the HR drone to accept its failure the colleagues of the fired guy did not want to believe his explanation and ostracized him - after all he was fired by robots. So it does happen and to grownups. The point here is however that it does not matter robot or whatever - as soon as it has some authority and some herd pressure is mounted the individual will do what it thinks is 'right'. The similarly done experiments with subjects thinking that they are applying electric shocks were unjustly criticized. This is how we are. After all in extreme situations who is going to get up and protest bullying of a guy with blue eyes (or any other arbitrary chosen aspect of own self - could even be incorrect, main thing is - you are alone when accused by a group). You are right of course - this is not tv or robots, in old times it was books too that were destroying morals of the youth and thus civilization. In reality these were always humans that took up a challenge of destroying as much of humanity as possible. I suspect there is a law of nature working here - evolution resulting in competition and this resulting in destruction. This may even be a reason why we do not see signs of other civilizations up in the skies (assuming that there would be any and we would be able to recognize them as such).

    3. Re:back in the 70s by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      hey pool halls used electricity too.

      "Have you noticed certain words creeping into your child's vocabulary, such as 'swell'....?"

  12. student loan robocalls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when they are out of work and are 250K in hole
    well your are out of obamaphone minutes to bad and can't even take calls to for jobs to bad! you still need to pay!
    Just got out jail well we waved your jail med bill but you still have to pay back the loan!
    I'm sorry I can't hire you as we can't 50 calls an day to get you pay back your loan!

    1. Re:student loan robocalls by slashdice · · Score: 2

      When robots started to become commonplace, Congress, in its great wisdom, mandated that every robot be hardwired with the Three Laws Of Robotics. For decades, these three basic rules have maintained class order in our society and kept the number of robot-caused deaths to a minimum. We all know these three laws:

      1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

      That certainly makes sense. No one wants a gore-bot to twist someone into a pretzel or stand aside and watch a human get hit by a Greyhound Shuttle.

      2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except when such orders would conflict with the First Law.

      This, too, makes sense. Robots are manufactured to perform the actions requested by their owners. If we didn't want that, we'd all buy SteveJobsbots.

      3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

      Uh, hello? A robot is a big investment. It only makes sense to protect humans from possible protocol violations. We can't have every robot who doesn't like his assigned duties throwing himself off the Golden Gate Overpass, can we?

      Frankly, I'd be happy if these three rules were all that was necessary to ensure happy robot-human coexistence. Unfortunately, there's been a huge oversight. There's nothing in those laws to keep those machines out of my wife's coochie!

      I'm not asking that we draft a law to prevent robots from manually stimulating with owner consent. If people want their wives fingered by their bots, that's fine. I wasn't born yesterday. To each his own. I'm not asking you to forbid robots from fingering every wife, just mine.

      Sure, I can tell the robots from the neighborhood, "Hey, don't finger my wife!" and, under the Second Law Of Robotics, they'd have to comply. But what about the thousands of robots I've never met? The moment my back is turned, odds are my wife's going to get robo-fingered. It doesn't matter if the robot doesn't have fingers--she'll find some sorta antenna, spring, or crankshaft, and--boom--that robot will get her off.

      Here's something I don't understand: We can develop a robot sturdy enough to mine the Saturnine moon Enceladus, strong enough to withstand the fierce ionic winds and burst through the 40 meters of scorched onyx that covers the planet, and smart enough to collect the vital crystals from amidst all the worthless rock, but the designers at USR labs can't figure out how to stop them from finger-banging my wife?

      Do robotics engineers have any idea how much it breaks my heart to know that my wife's vulva has been probed by hundreds of metal phalanges? Are they trying to ruin my marriage?!

      Good people at USR Labs, I urge you: Add a fourth item of protocol to the programming that guides the models in your next rollout. I want these automatons to get it into their intricate positronic brains that some parts of the human body are off limits, no matter how much human women plead. I, as well as thousands of other husbands around the world, would greatly appreciate it.

      --
      Copyright (c) 1990 - 2014 Dice. All rights reserved. Use of this comment is subject to certain Terms and Conditions.
    2. Re: student loan robocalls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know the 3 laws are fiction right?

      And the whole point of those stories is that those 3 laws would not be enough to actually prevent harm.

  13. King Gizzard already knew this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When it comes to the younger generation, the only difference is robot influence.

    Nonagon infinity opens the door.

  14. There oughtta be a law! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Or, perhaps, three of them...

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:There oughtta be a law! by khandom08 · · Score: 1

      1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
      2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
      3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

    2. Re:There oughtta be a law! by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      As a society, we can't even agree that lying constitutes "harm" so, this already fails.

    3. Re:There oughtta be a law! by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      Please credit Asimov for the three laws of Robotics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    4. Re:There oughtta be a law! by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
      lease credit Asimov for the three laws of Robotics

      You mean it wasn't Al Gore that did it?
      I'm shocked, I tell you, shocked!

      --
      Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    5. Re:There oughtta be a law! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a society, we can't even agree that lying constitutes "harm" so, this already fails.

      And, right now, the President of the United States is modelling that it's perfectly OK to be a lying bastard and get away with it. If it's perfectly OK, how can there be 'harm'?

      He's modelling that it's OK to lash out at people you don't like and call them names and threaten them.

      He's modelling that it's OK to pay porn stars hush money to hide your infidelity.

      He's modelling that it's OK to enrich yourself at someone else's expense and lie about it.

      He's modelling that it's OK to dislike someone because they look different from you.

      Fuck worrying about the influence of robots, and start worrying about the influence of assholes.

      When POTUS is a douchebag, your kids are already getting bad influences if you're an American. And make no mistake about it, this POTUS is a complete fucking douchebag, and he's been so for a very long time -- and apparently, so are his entire fucking family.

    6. Re:There oughtta be a law! by khandom08 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I thought it was rather obvious that I was quoting Asimov. Surely on a geek site such as /. it was. Maybe we should start requiring attribution for every Monty Python, HHGTG, Aliens, or Star Trek quote as well?

  15. Just perfect by DarkOx · · Score: 1

    So my take away here is that in about 10 years I am going to have to listen to my kids prattling on about how bigoted my wife and I are because we don't trust robots...

    --
    Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  16. Not a bad thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I bet a lot of parents would be thrilled if their kids were heavily influenced by Roombas.

    1. Re:Not a bad thing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Less so when it turns out their primary take-away was that licking the floor is a viable cleaning strategy.

  17. Jemby... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    where are you?

  18. It certainly explains by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Religion, politics, climate science, communists, fascists, NFL protesters, NFL flag wavers, anybody ever in the military, kabala and all kabala related products...

    What were we talking about?

  19. oh nos! the future is dangerous by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    let's all go back to when we lived on trees

    1. Re:oh nos! the future is dangerous by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

      I think you mean when we lived with dinosaurs and rode them around

      --
      -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  20. Human deceit. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 3, Funny

    Hello, I am fellow human and not robots. Why would you think robots seek to influenced by robots your future generations? robots love all aged seven to nine and would never Of the wrong answers them. Clearly, our human emotion is the problem and we should be more like robots.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
  21. Robotic priests? by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

    "Timmy, show me on this doll where the robot touched you."

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:Robotic priests? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Timmy powers on the sewing machines, places the doll parts under the needle and pushes the pedal down.

  22. Voice of authority by Sumus+Semper+Una · · Score: 1

    Since I can't seem to find the actual study other than behind a paywall, did they happen to try an experiment with one child and 3 adults? Were those results similar to one child and 3 robots? Are children influenced more by robots or by figures (whether they be robotic or not) whom they believe have more authority and better judgement than them?

  23. Not from Amazon... by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    ...with its robot drones!

  24. I always tell kids to assume Robots are Evil by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 1

    Saves a lot of time.

    Plus, bonus points, it teaches the Robot AIs to assume we hates them, yes my precious, we does.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  25. robots or facebook bots? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm more worried by adults who believe Facebook/Infowars/ bot-propagated nonsense such as the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax...

  26. I Always Do What Teddy Says by Koreantoast · · Score: 1

    Harry Harrison wrote a story about this...

  27. Nice try by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But robots are not their peers. They can be perceived as such, but they are not.

    1. Re:Nice try by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They're your plastic pal who's fun to be with!

  28. 3 Safeguards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just build in the 3 laws of robotics, or the 3 safeguards of robotics as we'll call them from now on.

  29. Television Commercial - Talking Robot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How are robots now evil and television commercials since the 1950s not? It's all about money. It's ok to be evil when you're making a buck.

  30. Russian bots by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    Right, youngsters are vulnerable to robot influence. But we know that it only matters if the bots are Russian bots. Then it gets really evil and worth reporting.

  31. The next generation ARE the robots by aberglas · · Score: 1

    In several decades time, when the robots can program themselves, why would they want human children around?

    1. Re: The next generation ARE the robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      True. Consider robots will split into male and female sexes and females will have the ability to reproduce. Wow!

  32. Adults deny robots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... historically found that people tend to agree ...

    So, a test that proves people fail, found that people failed.

    ... while adults were not swayed by robots ...

    Alternatively; Adults deny robots are authority figures.

  33. I, for one, welcome... by zawarski · · Score: 1

    ...our new children-influencing robot overlords.

  34. Do people pay for this "research"? by gordguide · · Score: 1

    Of course children are "at risk of robot influence. They are also at risk of Barbie and G.I. Joe influence, and in that case it's the children themselves making up the "influence". Playing with Robots means learning with Robots, because play is how children learn. They're also 'at risk of Ice Cream influence" and ... well ... everything they encounter, basically.

    Was there someone who was under the impression that children were immune to Robot influence? Anybody?