Saturday, September 15, 2012

Meet Nexi Robot; A Shifty Bot - YouTube



MDS (Mobile Social Dexterous) Robot Alias "Nexi". Usually when we talk about whether a technology is trustworthy, we’re talking about how reliable or secure it is.

Nexi, the robot in this video, has been programmed to exhibit body language that is intended to make people suspicious.

Developed by MIT’s Cynthia Breazeal, Nexi builds on prior research about body language and trustworthiness.

Studies from MIT, Northeastern University, and Cornell University identified four actions that commonly make people suspicious of others: leaning away, crossing one’s arms, clasping one’s hands together, and touching one’s face.

The robot was designed to mimic these four actions, and researchers used it in one-on-one conversations with participants in the study.

A human provided Nexi’s voice to keep the conversation natural, and another controlled the bot’s motions.

The study reports that when people unknowingly witnessed certain nonverbal cues, they acted as though the robot couldn’t be trusted.

Read more about the study at the New York Times, and then try not to play psychologist every time you see people touching their faces.

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