So one of the areas Honda were keen to look at when developing the ASIMO is something called 'movement intelligence'. Developing an artificial brain to control the robot's body was too big a task, so they broke down the process of providing the robot with mobility into much smaller areas. The result being algorithms that help it to walk and wave and balance, as well as the myriad other things it is able to do. The sum total of all this is that when the robot appears in public or on TV, viewers are convinced it is intelligent, or even that there is a small person inside making it work.
Most people are happy to have static devices like washing machines and dishwashers in their homes but when a machine comes along, like ASIMO or the Roomba floor cleaner, that moves as well as performs a function, it becomes something else. New Scientist recently reported an intriguing study which found that people who are beginning to form bonds with their robotic cleaning devices - giving them names, even dressing them and assigning them genders - in general bestowing them with qualities we normally associate with living beings. Going even further, the Washington Post has interviewed soldiers using robots in Iraq who reported feelings of 'deep sadness' when their reconnaissance or mine-clearing robots were destroyed.
We are familiar with animatronic devices that follow set routines in theme parks, or industrial robots that perform repetitive tasks in factories, but when we get machines with unpredictable movements in uncontrolled locations, maybe that does something to the human brain. There is interesting research being done into mirror neurons that suggests that we mammals are pre-conditioned to react to movement and perhaps, to empathise and respond to it. It seems to be part of how we learn about the world so maybe this is why we respond to mobile robots with such affection.
As robots come into our homes more and more, and as they take on more appealing designs, there are sure to be interesting revelations about how we feel towards them and the types of relationships that might develop. I'm not just talking about an intimate relations with robots scenario here - but other bonds that are more varied and subtle. Robots as essential parts of the family perhaps - our friends electric.
(originally published 9th May 2008)