Complex relationship between humans and robots

From the robot R2-D2 in the Star Wars movie to the Furby toy animal, robots are enough to arouse complex emotions in people.

Modern people continue to grow more and more with different types of robots in everyday life, but few know the effects of these machines on our emotional state. Some new reports suggest that witnessing a robot being abused or cuddled also creates the same effect as when people look at the same situation of a fellow.

Robot activates emotions

In two new studies, experts find ways to measure human reactions to robots in terms of emotion and nerves. In the first survey, volunteers watched a series of videos about a small dinosaur robot being cherished or brutally beaten. Scientists analyze their level of physiological expression while watching movies by measuring the electrical conductivity of the skin. When a person experiences strong emotions, they sweat more, increasing the skin's ability to conduct electricity. The results showed that participants had a negative feeling when they witnessed robots being abused.

Robots are gradually becoming human companions in many fields - (Photo: Shutterstock)

In the second study, experts used functional magnetic resonance measurement (fMRI) to visualize brain activity in participants when they watched videos showing a human-robot interaction. For example, a clip shows a man taking action to beat a woman, tying her with a rope and using a plastic bag to cover her head to suffocate her. As for the second clip, the act of violence happens to the dinosaur robots. Brain shots show that the volunteer's brain activity is quite similar in both cases, although emotions are stronger when faced with the tragic situation of people. From the above experiments, research leader Rosenthal-von der Pütten of the University of Duisburg Essen (Germany) concluded that the generalization of stimulation comes from robots that triggered the emotional process almost similarly. as in humans.

Human interaction - robot

The fact that people sympathize with robots is not so surprising, because apparently they seem like and behave like animals, according to the robotics researcher Alexander Reben, founder of the company BlabDroid. Expert Reben himself has also shaped robots from paper mache, with eye-catching appearance and easy to cause sympathy. However, not everyone can see the relationship between people and robots naturally. Some people also expressed concern about the emotional attachment, but expert Reben said that there is nothing too unusual in this case. He also compared the trend of modern-day robot development like human ancestors tamed coyotes into dogs in ancient times and kept them friends.'We always do it for millennia. And I think we are doing the same thing for robots, ' Reben concluded.

Expert Rosenthal-von der Pütten judged that it is important to understand the connection between people and robots in the context of robots that are increasing their presence and equipped with artificial intelligence.