wow.

Does this [yahoo.com] make anyone else think that the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation is close to being formed?

ZDNet recently reported on a radical Artificial Intelligence system called EMIR (the Emotional Model for Intelligent Response). This new system will allow software and machines to mimic human emotions, creating devices such as "friendly fridges" or "angry robots".

I'm thinking I could make a bundle if I founded the complaints department....also, what arethe odds that there's a reason beyond having watched Terminator too many times that one of their first thoughts is "angry robots"?

It's really only a small step from a smiling paperclip to a psychotic murderous time-traveling nanometal robot.

And you have to admire the science behind this : "Basically, subjects were presented with contrasting pairs of emotion terms such that (and here is the key) each pair only differed with respect to (a) pleasure, (b) arousal, or (c) dominance."

I'm left wondering whether he wears the leathers to the lab UNDER his clothes or INSTEAD of his clothes.

"Q: Our first question is regarding your research into emotions. How did you collect data? Did it involve zapping university students with electrodes?
A: No, it is not possible to obtain the kind of detailed information that we needed for understanding emotions without resorting to verbal reports. So our challenge was to devise highly sophisticated sets of pre-tested verbal questions that would yield reliable and valid answers about emotions."

  How can this guy create machines that understand emotion if he doesn't even understand sarcasm?
   
  Angry Robots, though. Hmmm... It sounds like they already have something in mind. Such as having lots of angry robots call complaint lines so that no one else will get through (which is a reason you may want to think twice before setting yours up, Phillip). It is a truely malevolent and/or malicious plot that could only be the work of one person...........................Strom Thurmond!

In Response to Lonely Goatherd (#676):

And once again I've managed to forget to log in before commenting. Maybe I need a robot to remind me to do that, as long as he isn't too whiny, because the one thing I've learned from science fiction is that robots love to complain.

In Response to Evander (#677):

As long as there is never a need, reason, or actual creation of a robotic Richard simmons doll. {insert physical and audible marks of discust here}

In Response to Gentoo666 (#716):

Ah, the Simpsons. Is there nothing they hold Holy?

Seriously though, one must wonder just how annoying fictional robots, such as Marvin and C-3PO, would be in real life, at least we have a basis off of which to estimate the trouble that would be caused by a SimmonsBot.

This is, of course, assuming they can implant true personalities into the robots, rather than only implanting dispositions towards certain emotions.

Well, since we have already created those robots that have fuel cells that run on organic matter (i.e. meat, grass clippings), it's just one small step now until we have a carnivorous robot which is also capable of feeling hunger and anger. Hold me.

In Response to Incarnadine (#767):

While I refuse to clutch you to my bosom, I will admit that this has some terrifying consequences. Methinks this would be a good time to start programming robots with Asimov's Laws.

I'll probably take some flak for this, but the question is flaming pink upon my mind:

Why do we even need robots with human emotions? What itch is being scratched by having my fridge give me backtalk? Will having robots that have transgender issues really solve the problems of the world? And if you really do need human emotions, why not try taking a walk right out your door?

Ditto angry robots. What, you want to be abused? Go call a dominatrix.

This is research for research's sake, and frankly I don't care much for it. If somebody can explain to me why I need a robot to exterminate the human race, please do post back.

In Response to TheWizardofFez (#1283):

you need a robot to exterminate the human race because, unlike humans, they are tireless efficient killing machines. Unless you get those killbots with the built in killing limit, in which case we could just send wave after wave of out own men at them and win in the end.

Seriously I would assume that the initial desire is to imbue some form of self preservation etc. Then they can have an in built priority system relating to potential failures.

In Response to tor (#1284):

How about going in a different direction all together. Perhaps research taking emotions out of some humans. I know i'd be much safer if PMS didn't exist.

In Response to TheWizardofFez (#1283):

Is there direct application for the study? Maybe, maybe not.

If we suppose that humans are good at recognizing emotion (YMMV), then it might be useful to have a robot use pseudo-emotion to "send signals" to someone with whom it's interacting, to help it communicate. (Keep in mind that's what we're really talking about. To say that a robot "is" angry is a little naive; better to say that the robot is made to appear angry. So if you can set conditions for when it will appear angry...)

And there's a long-shot possibility that having a model of emotional behavior could help us study it. A lot of science does work that way -- build a model of a thing and study the model to learn about the thing. But in this case the model would be very synthetic, possibly biased by our expectations, and built on different fundamentals than real emotion... so it might not work.

In any case, even if there's no application, I see nothing wrong with pure research. You never know how a line of research will develop, and a good deal of what we have today would not exist if someone hadn't studied it when there was "no possible application".

In Response to tor (#1284):

I commend you for your well placed Futurama reference.