Building androids to understand humans?

Hiroshi Ishiguro is a roboticist at Osaka University in Japan, and he has created an android version of himself.

Although the robot does not have independent intelligence and it does not have the full body motion of its creator, Ishiguro can remotely control the robot to mimic his every move.

Ishiguro studies human-robot interaction. In our investigation of bionics and artificial intelligence throughout these blog posts, we have functioned under the general assumption that through the study of humanity, we will gain a better understanding of artificial intelligence and the creation of a fully robotic "human." However, in Ishiguro's studies he seeks to understand human behavior and intelligence through the study of androids. The reversal of this concept brings a new perspective into our discussion. ”My research question is to know what is a human,” he explains, which was the topic of my first blog post. He goes on to explain, "I use very humanlike robots as test beds for my hypotheses." Many of the questions we have discussed throughout these blog posts are being tested by Ishiguro and his robots.

Ishiguro argues that robots can already have the ability to do many of the daily tasks that humans perform. He can see robots doing household chores, caring for the elderly, etc. However, he argues that in order for the average person to accept a machine in these roles, the machine must behave as if it were a human. All of us have experienced many attempts at replacing human tasks with a machine. Sometimes, this is successful, as with ATM machines. Other times, it is frustrating and impersonal, such as with automated phone machines. In Ishiguro's mind, there is no reason that we need to be able to tell the difference. He explains that we are wired for human-human interaction, and this is essential if robots are to become an integral part of our daily lives.

The Japanese have a term called sonzaikan to describe the feeling of being in the presence of another human being. But as we have already discussed, where does the sense of humanness come from? and more importantly, how can you translate this to a mechanical robot? The world population of industrial and service robots is about 8.5 million! Still, like Ishiguro explains, these robots are further from "human" and closer to "appliances." IF you look at youtube videos of Ishiguro's android twin, the comments reflect many mixed feelings. A lot of people find the android's likeness to its creator scary and unnatural. In my opinion, an android that attempts to mimic a human likeness must be extremely successful in achieving this, otherwise I think it would be even less relateable than one that looks like a garbage can with arms and legs. When a robot looks like a robot, people know what to expect, and they are familiar with them. However, when a robot looks so much like a human, but is missing all the nuances and and fine motions and reactions of a human, I think the most common reaction would be to reject the robot, or even be afraid of it. It defeats the natural interface that Ishiguro is trying to achieve.

In Ishiguro's latest robots, he even wrote software to mimic involuntary human movements, such as blinking and breathing. While this may aid in the "human-human" interaction that he seeks to achieve, it also brings up different questions. To what extent does a robot need to appear human for humanity to accept it. Perhaps a robot with fluid motions, but without a human face, is enough. In the movie iRobot, many of the robots have a human-like appearance, but are still machines made out of metal and clearly distinguishable from a human. Still, they are able to integrate into humanity and become a part of the daily life. I think that many people find comfort in being able to tell a robot apart from a human. I think instead, it is more important for the robot to be able to react accordingly when it is spoken to. If a robot behaves in a human way, I think that people would treat it like a human regardless of how it looks.

"Humankind is always trying to replace human abilities with machines. That’s our history. I’m doing the same thing. Nothing special."