francene--blog. Year 2013
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July 7th

7/7/2013

 
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The most advanced humanoid robot in the world is not able to comprehend human gestures. Honda's popular robot faced problems with gesture recognition on its first day as a museum guide at the Miraikan science museum in Tokyo.

That's no surprise. It has taken millions of years for humans to evolve and develop language skills. The book, 'Clan of the Cave Bears' fascinated me when I first read it about thirty years ago. In the novel, Neanderthal and modern humans made first contact and used body postures to express most of their social dictates. How could modern man install intricate details that have led mankind to this point?


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Associated Press reported the Japanese machine struggled to differentiate between museum-goers raising their hands to ask a question and raising their hands to take photos.

Asimo, developed in 1996 and working as a tour guide at the museum for a four week trial, cannot respond to voice commands. The robot is only designed to answer 100 questions selected via touchscreen from a written panel. During a demonstration, it froze and asked: "Who wants to ask Asimo a question?" repeatedly when people pointed their cameras at it. Asimo can recognize a child waving to it, but it's not able to comprehend the meaning of the waving.

Interaction with humans is the next big step for robotics. Experts are working on safe human-robot interaction. Rather than concentrating on making robots compliant, they want to instill advanced social intelligence. For example, if a robot is handing you something hot or sharp, it needs to know whether it has your attention.


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Experts tell us body language accounts for between 55% and 65% of our communication. Body language is carriage, facial expressions, eye contact and gestures. Different cultures have developed nuances of expression. The Italians use hand gestures to fill in what their language cannot express. English is said to be the most complicated of languages. There is a word for every nuance of thought. Gestures shouldn't be needed. However, some English-speaking people use their hands even when their partner is facing away.

I rarely use gestures when talking to my husband. Yet, when he's particularly agitated, his hands fly around, sometimes just missing my face.

Sitting at my computer most of the day, I don't have face-to-face contact with anyone. Maybe I've lost my communication skills. Last week, I went out to lunch with two women I'd only contacted through phone calls and via my husband. A strange awareness came over me while I was talking. My hands were joining in the conversation.

How about you? Do you make use of body language?


The Great Gordino link
7/6/2013 08:18:22 pm

Hi Francene,
Everyone uses body language, whether they know it or not, and of course that's the key - when you know and study it, you can use it deliberatley to se the tone you want, or to help persuasion.
As for hand gestures, your example of the Italians is a classic, as they are well known for it.

I've found it interesting to watch people's hand gestures, often people use the same gestures over and over, and after a while you can see they have no relevance to the words being spoken at all, it's almost just something to keep the hands busy.

It's a great example of the potential we all have to harness skills rather than just let them play out aimlessly,
cheers,
Gordon

Francene Stanley link
7/7/2013 03:35:32 am

Thanks for adding to this fascinating topic, GG. I guess people need to develop the skill to use their hand gestures to weave a story. You're just the person to coach them.

Tamala link
7/6/2013 09:13:45 pm

I can be an extremely animated person and even when I am in a more laid back type of mode, I use my hands frequently. It adds "color" to whatever I am speaking about. Robotics is very fascinating and scary at the same time. I just think of movies like I, Robot and Surrogate and the idea of advanced robotics really coming into development makes me uneasy. But all things are progress. I'm curious how scientists will work around this.... interesting post. Thanks for sharing

Francene Stanley link
7/7/2013 03:36:49 am

Will scientists be able to give robots human understanding, just like they have in those great movies? We'll have to wait and see.

Amy link
7/6/2013 09:48:39 pm

Fascinating post, as always, Francene. When my husband and I were in Italy, we noticed that the Italians used their hands in communication much more than we did. We could tell at a distance what the mood was in a particular conversation, pleasant or not.

Francene Stanley link
7/7/2013 03:38:01 am

It's a wonder they don't knock each other out with their gestures. I guess they've fine tuned their movements.


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    Francene Stanley, author of many published novels. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books? You'll see them on the sidebar below.
    Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life.

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