Author: Oliver Bendel

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The Uncanny Robot CyberOne

Xiaomi – a Chinese manufacturer of consumer electronics – introduced CyberOne in August 2022. It is a humanoid social robot. It has a head, but no face, and for that reason alone it looks creepy. The company writes on its website: “As the newest member of Xiaomi’s Cyber series, joining last year’s quadruped robot Cyberdog, CyberOne is fitted with advanced arms and legs, supports bipedal-motion posture balancing, and reaches a peak torque of up to 300Nm. Also demonstrated was the ability to detect human emotion, advanced vision capabilities, and functionality allowing it to create three-dimensional virtual reconstructions of the real world, alongside a host of other advanced technologies.” (Xiaomi, August 11, 2022) Via www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJhneBJIfOk you can watch a video with CyberOne. Overall, the demonstration seems unconvincing. The missing face has already been mentioned. The robot makes sounds that are more appropriate for a small toy and entertainment robot. In addition, it moves stiffly and slowly. You can say that the list of uncanny robots has been expanded with CyberOne. Maybe the company can improve the prototype and make it more compelling.

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AI Ethics and Animals

The impact of robotics and artificial intelligence on non-human animals has been researched by Oliver Bendel for several years. He has made it his task to complement the discipline of animal-computer interaction, which was founded by Clara Mancini, with the discipline of animal-machine interaction. His most recent paper is “Passive, Active, and Proactive Systems and Machines for the Protection and Preservation of Animals and Animal Species”, published February 25, 2022, in Frontiers of Animal Science. Also becoming active in this field now is the famous ethicist Peter Singer. Together with his co-author Yip Fai Tse, he published the article “AI ethics: the case for including animals” in July 2022. From the abstract: “The ethics of artificial intelligence, or AI ethics, is a rapidly growing field, and rightly so. While the range of issues and groups of stakeholders concerned by the field of AI ethics is expanding, with speculation about whether it extends even to the machines themselves, there is a group of sentient beings who are also affected by AI, but are rarely mentioned within the field of AI ethics – the nonhuman animals. This paper seeks to explore the kinds of impact AI has on nonhuman animals, the severity of these impacts, and their moral implications. We hope that this paper will facilitate the development of a new field of philosophical and technical research regarding the impacts of AI on animals, namely, the ethics of AI as it affects nonhuman animals.” (Peter Singer and Yip Fai Tse 2022) In the text, the authors write: “Of the hundreds of AI ethics related papers we reviewed in this project, we only found four that concern the impacts of AI on animals, in a general way, and discuss the relevant ethical implications. They are: ‘Towards animal-friendly machines’ by Oliver Bendel, ‘AI Ethics and Value Alignment for Nonhuman Animals’ by Soenke Ziesche, ‘Moral Consideration of Nonhumans in the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence’ by Andrea Owe and Seth Baum and ‘Animals and AI. The role of animals in AI research and application – An overview and ethical evaluation’ by Leonie Bossert and Thilo Hagendorf.” (Peter Singer and Yip Fai Tse 2022) The article will certainly give the young disciplines a further boost.

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Chess Robot Breaks Finger of Young Opponent at the Moscow Open

According to the Guardian, a chess-playing robot, “apparently unsettled by the quick responses of a seven-year-old boy, unceremoniously grabbed and broke his finger during a match at the Moscow Open” (Guardian, July 24, 2022). That’s a strange formulation, though, because the robot certainly wasn’t unsettled. It simply does not comply with current safety regulations and should never have been used in this form. Sergey Smagin, vice-president of the Russian Chess Federation, even twists things when he says: “There are certain safety rules and the child, apparently, violated them. When he made his move, he did not realise he first had to wait …” (Guardian, July 24, 2022) In such a setting, the robot should follow safety rules rather than the human. In chess, one is focused on the game and highly tense. One should not still have to adjust to the behavior of the cobot. Cobots are useful tools in production and logistics and also in the service area. The models from Kuka, Franka Emika, or F&P Robotics are very safe to operate. The chess robot that was used in Moscow is not at the current technical level.

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A Robot Charging Station for the Disabled

According to a media release, Ford has developed a prototype robot charging station that drivers operate via their smartphone from inside their electric vehicle. The technology could enable disabled persons to stay in the Ford (or another car) while charging, or they could leave the vehicle while the robot completes the task. Disabled drivers, the company says, have already identified ease of charging as a key purchase consideration for electric vehicles. The robot charging station is tested as part of a research project to develop hands-free charging solutions for electric vehicles and fully automatic charging for autonomous vehicles. “Following initial lab testing, Ford researchers are now putting the robot charging station to the test in real-life situations. Once activated, the station cover slides open and the charging arm extends towards the inlet with the help of a tiny camera. For the trial, drivers were able to monitor the charge status via the FordPass app. After charging, the arm retracts back into place.” (Ford Media Release, July 20, 2022) More information is available via the Ford Media Center.

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Robots in Law and Policing

Robophilosophy 2022 at the University of Helsinki is the fifth event in the biennial Robophilosophy Conference Series. It “will explore the societal significance of social robots for the future of social institutions with its usual broad scope, embracing both theoretical and practical angles” (CfP Robophilosophy). It “is an invitation to philosophers and other SSH researchers, as well as researchers in social robotics and HRI, to investigate from interdisciplinarily informed perspectives whether and how social robotics as an interdisciplinary endeavour can contribute to the ability of our institutions to perform their functions in society” (CfP Robophilosophy). Social institutions include retirement and nursing homes, strip clubs and brothels, monasteries and seminaries, and police departments. Oliver Bendel (School of Business FHNW) will have the opportunity to present his paper entitled “Robots in Policing” in session 1, “Robots in Law and Policing”. Cindy Friedman (“Granting Negative Rights to Humanoid Robots”) and Jakob Stenseke (“The Use and Abuse of Normative Ethics for Moral Machines”) will speak after him. In addition, a poster by Katharina Kühne and Melinda Mende (University of Potsdam) as well als Oliver Bendel entitled “Tamagotchi on our couch: Are social robots perceived as pets?” was accepted. The full program is now available online.

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Robots Dancing Like Bees

Robot-robot communication and interaction usually takes place via networks. Spoken language can also be used. In certain situations, however, these methods reach their limits. For example, during a rescue operation in disaster areas, communication via radio signals might not be possible. With this in mind, Kaustubh Joshi from the University of Maryland and Abhra Roy Chowdhury from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed an alternative approach. Their paper states: “This research presents a novel bio-inspired framework for two robots interacting together for a cooperative package delivery task with a human-in the-loop. It contributes to eliminating the need for network-based robot-robot interaction in constrained environments. An individual robot is instructed to move in specific shapes with a particular orientation at a certain speed for the other robot to infer using object detection (custom YOLOv4) and depth perception. The shape is identified by calculating the area occupied by the detected polygonal route. A metric for the area’s extent is calculated and empirically used to assign regions for specific shapes and gives an overall accuracy of 93.3% in simulations and 90% in a physical setup. Additionally, gestures are analyzed for their accuracy of intended direction, distance, and the target coordinates in the map. The system gives an average positional RMSE of 0.349 in simulation and 0.461 in a physical experiment.” (Abstract) The way of interaction and communication is reminiscent of the bee dance – and indeed this served as a model. The paper can be accessed via www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2022.915884/full.

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About Manipulative Robots in Retail

On June 30, 2022, the paper “Should Social Robots in Retail Manipulate Customers?” by Oliver Bendel and Liliana Margarida Dos Santos Alves was published on arxiv.org. It was presented at the AAAI 2022 Spring Symposium “How Fair is Fair? Achieving Wellbeing AI” at Stanford University and came in third place in the Best Presentation Awards. From the abstract: “Against the backdrop of structural changes in the retail trade, social robots have found their way into retail stores and shopping malls in order to attract, welcome, and greet customers; to inform them, advise them, and persuade them to make a purchase. Salespeople often have a broad knowledge of their product and rely on offering competent and honest advice, whether it be on shoes, clothing, or kitchen appliances. However, some frequently use sales tricks to secure purchases. The question arises of how consulting and sales robots should “behave”. Should they behave like human advisors and salespeople, i.e., occasionally manipulate customers? Or should they be more honest and reliable than us? This article tries to answer these questions. After explaining the basics, it evaluates a study in this context and gives recommendations for companies that want to use consulting and sales robots. Ultimately, fair, honest, and trustworthy robots in retail are a win-win situation for all concerned.” The paper will additionally be published in the proceedings volume of the symposium by the end of summer. It can be downloaded via arxiv.org/abs/2206.14571.

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Speaking with SPACE THEA

In June 2022, the paper “The SPACE THEA Project” by Martin Spathelf and Oliver Bendel was published on arxiv.org. It was presented at the AAAI 2022 Spring Symposium “How Fair is Fair? Achieving Wellbeing AI” at Stanford University and came in 2nd place in the Best Presentation Awards. From the abstract: “In some situations, no professional human contact can be available. Accordingly, one remains alone with one’s problems and fears. A manned Mars flight is certainly such a situation. A voice assistant that shows empathy and assists the astronauts could be a solution. In the SPACE THEA project, a prototype with such capabilities was developed using Google Assistant and Dialogflow Essentials. The voice assistant has a personality based on characteristics such as functional intelligence, sincerity, creativity, and emotional intelligence. It proves itself in seven different scenarios designed to represent the daily lives of astronauts, addressing operational crises and human problems. The paper describes the seven scenarios in detail, and lists technical and conceptual foundations of the voice assistant. Finally, the most important results are stated and the chapters are summarized.” The paper will additionally be published in the proceedings volume of the symposium by the end of summer. It can be downloaded via arxiv.org/abs/2206.10390.

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From WALL·E to DALL·E

DALL·E 2 is a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. It was announced by OpenAI in April 2022. The name is a portmanteau of “WALL-E” and “Salvador Dalí”. The website openai.com says more about the program: “DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. It can combine concepts, attributes, and styles.” (Website openai.com) Moreover, it is able to “make realistic edits to existing images from a natural language caption” and to “add and remove elements while taking shadows, reflections, and textures into account” (Website openai.com). Last but not least, it “can take an image and create different variations of it inspired by the original” (Website openai.com). The latter form of use is shown by variations of the famous painting “Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer. The website says about the principle of the program: “DALL·E 2 has learned the relationship between images and the text used to describe them. It uses a process called ‘diffusion,’ which starts with a pattern of random dots and gradually alters that pattern towards an image when it recognizes specific aspects of that image.” (Website openai.com) DALL·E mini is a slimmed down version of the powerful program, with which you can gain a first insight. Overall, this is a fascinating and valuable project. From the perspective of information ethics and the philosophy of technology, many questions arise.

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The Ukrainian President as a Hologram

“Leia in ‘Star Wars’, who as a hologram delivers a message, Darth Vader, who forges plans with the imperator even though they are far apart from each other, William Riker in ‘Star Trek’, who moves on the holodeck through artificial landscapes, Major in ‘Ghost in the Shell’, who walks through a city while fish are swimming in the air next to her, Officer K in ‘Blade Runner 2049’, who lives together with a holographic assistant and meets holographic dancers and singers (Frank Sinatra under glass and Elvis Presley on stage) – fictional holograms make an appearance in all these instances.” (Oliver Bendel, “Hologram Girl“, 2018) According to the Guardian, Volodymyr Zelenskiy referenced Star Wars and the second world war as he appeared as a hologram (or pseudo-hologram) at a conference in Paris to seek aid from big tech companies. “He told a crowd of hundreds at the VivaTech trade show that he was offering technology firms a unique chance to rebuild Ukraine as a fully digital democracy.” (Guardian, June 17, 2022) The British newspaper quotes him as saying: “It’s unusual for presidents or heads of government to use a hologram to address people but this is not the only aspect of Star Wars that we are putting into practice” (Guardian, June 17, 2022). The Ukrainian president is not only following in the footsteps of Leila, but also of ABBA, who are currently causing a sensation with their avatars at concerts in London.