embodied-intelligence
The idea that robots like Cog learn and respond through physical interaction with their environment, simulating a toddler's developmental process.
2 chapters across 2 books
Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (2011)Sherry Turkle
In Chapter 5 of "Alone Together," Sherry Turkle explores the complex emotional and social dynamics between humans and sociable robots like Cog and Kismet. Through her observations and a study involving children, she reveals how these robots evoke feelings of kinship, companionship, and even love, despite their mechanical limitations, highlighting human desires for connection and the willingness to engage in a mutual complicity with machines. The chapter emphasizes how robots serve as mirrors to human needs and the blurred boundaries between people and machines in social interaction.
The Second Self (1984)Sherry Turkle
This chapter explores the author's encounter with Cog and Kismet, two socially interactive robots designed to simulate human-like learning and emotional expression. It examines the complex emotional responses humans, especially children, have toward these robots, highlighting the blurred boundaries between machine and person and the human desire for connection and care. The chapter also discusses the implications of these interactions for understanding human identity, social intelligence, and the needs that robots symbolically fulfill.