instead of worrying about making robots more intelligent, the machine perception lab is trying to make them more affectionate: by placing two robots in the UCSD daycare center for a few weeks, his team was able to program them to have more realistic affect. their research (paper) reveals that children as young as 10 months understand whether a robot is reacting to them, and can even comprehend its limited focus of attention. it turns out that robots don’t have to be more intelligent to appear human (we’re not), they just need to follow social norms like reacting, smiling for the appropriate time, and making eye contact.
via le monde