Concepts I enjoy, vol.1
This video of a Japanese robotic nurse/medical aide makes me feel extremely uncomfortable; not because of the idea of it (although if I think too much about it I'm not sure I can figure out why it should exist or how necessary its role is), but because of how it made me feel both cognitively and emotionally. If I was confronted with this in a hospital or clinic, I don't think I would feel comforted or helped. Instead, I would feel creeped out (in addition to wondering why a human wasn't employed in the position), and the reason for my being creeped out is a really fascinating concept called the Uncanny Valley.
but, i like zombies!
[I find this graph to be extremely interesting, but it doesn't represent exactly where those things lie on my personal U.V. continuum. For example, I like zombies quite a bit (I mean, philosophically) and would put them higher on the familiarity axis, and I would put "humanoid robots" much farther into the valley... indicating that everyone may have a different set of "rules" for this.]
I have a Wii Fit at home, and anyone who has used the "personal trainer" function knows that they are cartoonish black and white avatars, far less sophisticated than current technology allows. I'm not sure why they were made this way, though it's interesting to think about. Often the Wii Fit trainers have to tell you things you don't want to hear (that you're not strong, flexible, in shape, etc.) and it may be that it's easier to hear negative or bad things from less-human entities. Which makes this project of very human-like medical robots even more curious. How would you feel if one of the nurse robots had to break a piece of very bad news to you? Do you think it would be easier to take, or harder?
