The magic of creating of intelligent machines that could interact with humans has long fascinated us (1). Early attempts were based on clockwork mechanisms and called Automatons. Fritz Lang, in his 1927 film Metropolis, created the ultimate mechanical woman who looked quite natural and fooled others that it was human (2). As a child, I first saw a robot in the film Forbidden Planet back in the middle 1950’s (3) provided we discount the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz whom I did see earlier. I even developed a screenplay for a film about a woman with an artificial, sentient hand but that’s another story.
Recently, I watched Robot & Frank (4). An anonymous film critic gives a brief overview of the film: “A funny & touching film that is very effective at getting the audience to identify and empathize with Frank Langella’s aging character, a former cat burglar who is gradually growing senile. Frank’s son buys him a robot caretaker –a health-nut disciplinarian with a soft spot in its hardware heart — and Frank eventually persuades the robot to be his partner-in-crime in some late-life capers he has planned.” (5)
What I found interesting about Robot & Frank was how naturally Frank, after some initial rejection, began to treat the robot as a person. I know I talk back to the navigation computer in my car, so I see how easily we anthropomorphize things.
The development of robots as caregivers for older patients has seen much development in the last decade and many people are seeing such mechanical and electronic devices as real options in caregiving (6). The process of caregiving for anyone with serious limitations, physical or mental, has many, many downsides. If one is at home and family are the caregivers it’s usually fatigue and stress that becomes unbearable for the caregivers. If one is in an institution, then the professional caregivers (or sometimes caretakers) are often subject to errors caused by overwork, understaffing, insufficient training, minimal motivation, etc. But a robot is tireless, not bored by repetition, consistent, reliable, always positive and upbeat and knows not stress. Thus, a robot, once all the programming and legal concerns are solved, can be very helpful to its charge and provide needed respite for the other caregivers.
So, who wants a robot?
References
- Automaton. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automaton
- Metropolis (Universum Film, 1927) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0017136
- Forbidden Planet (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1956) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049223
- Robot & Frank (Dog Run Pictures, 2012) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1990314
- frimp13. An amusing & affecting look at technology, aging, and family. http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1007374/comments?ref_=tt_urv
- Robotics Resources. Elder Care Robots, Are We There Yet. http://www.roboticsresource.com/category/types-of-robots/medical-robots
Image Sources:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Metropolisposter.jpg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Robot_and_frank_poster.jpg
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Forbiddenplanetposter.jpg
Join us for a real-time discussion about questions raised by this essay on Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. See Discussion and SL tabs above for details. Link to the virtual meeting room: http://tinyurl.com/cjfx9ag.
Rodger Marion 
November 12, 2013 at 3:45 pm
Transcript – Weekly Discussion on Aging – Held in Second Life, November 12, 2013
[09:59] Gentle Heron: Hello Rodger.
[10:00] Rodger Markova: Hello Gentle
[10:00] Rodger Markova: Welcome
[10:00] Rodger Markova: Hello Tim
[10:00] Tim (tskillian Resident): Hello
[10:01] Tim (tskillian Resident): Hi Rodger
[10:01] Rodger Markova: Tim, this is gentle Heron. A friend of iSkye
[10:01] Tim (tskillian Resident): Good to see you Gentle. 🙂
[10:01] Tim (tskillian Resident): We have corresponded via email.
[10:01] Gentle Heron: Yes as have Rodger and I.
[10:01] Tim (tskillian Resident): Very good.
[10:02] Tim (tskillian Resident): Gentle sent me a recent study that she published.
[10:02] Rodger Markova: Excellent.
[10:02] Rodger Markova: Hello Megadeus
[10:02] Megadeus Resident: Hi
[10:02] Gentle Heron: Hello Mega. Glad you could come today.
[10:02] Megadeus Resident: I am interested in topic
[10:02] Rodger Markova: Excellent. Welcome
[10:03] Rodger Markova: Let me give you each some info
[10:04] Rodger Markova: We discuss a weekly blog and the link to it is at the end of that NC
[10:04] Rodger Markova: Let’s go inside.
[10:04] Tim (tskillian Resident): Yes — and I did see the movie this week. 🙂
[10:05] Rodger Markova: Excellent
[10:05] Gentle Heron: It sounds like a fun movie.
[10:06] Rodger Markova: Hello Dhira
[10:06] Tim (tskillian Resident): Hi Dhira
[10:06] Gentle Heron: Hi Dhira. Thanks for joining us.
[10:06] Tim (tskillian Resident): Good to see all of you here today.
[10:06] Gentle Heron: Rodger is the host, and the blog we are talking about is above the fireplace.
[10:07] Rodger Markova: You can grab hot cider and a muffin from the table
[10:07] ~ Serving Platter of Hot Apple Cider & Banana Nut Muffins ~: Enjoy
[10:08] Rodger Markova: Today we are discussing helper robots
[10:08] Rodger Markova: I wrote this blog but others contribute at various times
[10:09] Tim (tskillian Resident): I really enjoyed the movie, btw. Liv Tyler (character = Frank’s daughter) was very anti-robot.
[10:10] Rodger Markova: yes as I imagine are many people
[10:10] Gentle Heron: I think most people in first world countries nowadays have helper robots, even if they don’t know it. They are in all cars made now, aren’t they? And even things like washing machines and dishwashers.
[10:11] Tim (tskillian Resident): that is a good point, Gentle
[10:12] Gentle Heron: People don’t perceive those elements of our environment as robots. I think science fiction has conditioned us to only think of robots as pseudo-humanoid appearing
[10:14] Tim (tskillian Resident): So — one of the interesting things about the movie was how Frank made a real social connection to the robot — became a friend
[10:14] Megadeus Resident: I don’t remember the plot.. So I lost
[10:14] Tim (tskillian Resident): and — if you extrapolate just a little — it reminded me of Gentle’s study and how people are making connections in second life.
[10:15] Dhira Giha: anthropomorphizing, Nothing real about it
[10:15] Rodger Markova: No, we do it a lot
[10:15] Dhira Giha: Expression of loneliness
[10:16] Dhira Giha: SL is real
[10:16] Rodger Markova: That is quite true
[10:16] Tim (tskillian Resident): yes — I agree Dhira
[10:16] Dhira Giha: You are people, not machines that I use to perform some function
[10:17] Gentle Heron: How real do things have to be to be treated as humans? Mega’s avie isn’t at all human, but I know he (the typist) is.
[10:18] Gentle Heron: Actually, Dhira, when I have to have someone wipe my butt, I can’t be thinking of them as a friend, I have to think of them more as a helpful tool performing that function. Then when that’s done, I can think of that person as a friend again. That’s why intimate caregiving by a spouse is so tricky!
[10:19] Gentle Heron: Dhira, it just occurred to me, you might want to use voice instead of typing. Would you like me to type for you today?
[10:19] Dhira Giha: Excellent point, Gentle
[10:19] Gentle Heron puts on her headset.
[10:19] Tim (tskillian Resident): I can hear you Dhira
[10:19] Tim (tskillian Resident): you come across very well
[10:19] Gentle Heron: Rodger, I am not sure you are hearing Dhira, are you?
[10:20] Rodger Markova: No I’m not
[10:20] Megadeus Resident: I hear
[10:20] Gentle Heron: OK then I can type for her.
[10:20] Rodger Markova: In order to provide a transcript of the discussion, I need to stay with text
[10:20] Tim (tskillian Resident): ok — thanks, Gentle
[10:21] Gentle Heron: But still, even with what I said, a person is never a machine, even when they are a tool to accomplish a task. And I certainly don’t appreciate being treated as anything less than fully human, even though I use machines to perform some tasks most humans do within their bodies.
[10:22] Rodger Markova: yes
[10:23] Tim (tskillian Resident): In the movie, Frank had dementia – I don’t remember if they ever labeled it Alzheimer’s
[10:23] Rodger Markova: No, they were a bit vague there
[10:23] Tim (tskillian Resident): One of the things my wife noted was how the robot served as Franks memory
[10:23] Rodger Markova: Yes, that would be a good feature for such a robot
[10:24] Dhira Giha: I often ask people to just be my hands, no commentary, just do what I ask
[10:24] Tim (tskillian Resident): Which is one way we may use technology to accomplish tasks for us.
[10:24] Gentle Heron: But there are simpler machines, cheaper tools, we can use for that now.
[10:24] Gentle Heron: Exactly Dhira. And I apologize for the tardiness of my offer to type!
[10:24] Dhira Giha: (No problem)
[10:24] Gentle Heron: But Dhira, you don’t mean that the people you ask for assistance are any less human than you are.
[10:25] Dhira Giha: No not at all
[10:25] Dhira Giha: I’m saying that for some tasks I would rather have a machine
[10:25] Rodger Markova: yes
[10:25] Dhira Giha: When I want a friend I want a human, not a machine
[10:25] Tim (tskillian Resident): such a good point Dhira
[10:26] Gentle Heron: In fact, when a person voluntarily accepts an assignment as a tool for someone else, that shows the volunteer’s basic humanity, I think. It’s the voluntariness of it that makes the human not a machine.
[10:26] Rodger Markova: Machines as we know them now cannot be a friend but what do you think is the possibility of a truly sentient machine?
[10:27] Megadeus Resident: I having hard time follow. is topic that we not machines?
[10:27] Gentle Heron: Mega, we started talking about robotic caregivers.
[10:27] Dhira Giha: Problems come when ego gets in the way, both theirs and mine
[10:28] Rodger Markova: The topic is the value of human-like machines
[10:28] Megadeus Resident: Oh like the uneasy feeling you get looking as a humanlike robot?
[10:29] Gentle Heron: Why does that make you uneasy, Mega?
[10:29] Dhira Giha: Define sentient machine
[10:29] Tim (tskillian Resident): I somewhat agree with Dhira and am skeptical that robots could ever be sentient and be our friends.
[10:29] Megadeus Resident: I get a sence of danger
[10:29] Tim (tskillian Resident): sentient means self aware
[10:29] Gentle Heron: “Danger Will Robinson” that kind of danger, MEga?
[10:30] Megadeus Resident: I feel then not fully aware what they doing
[10:30] Tim (tskillian Resident): Mega is right — quite a number of studies — especially at MIT — have shown that people react negatively to non-human but human like qualities.
[10:31] Dhira Giha: Sensing versus thinking
[10:31] Tim (tskillian Resident): and I think they are trying to overcome that, but have not yet succeeded.
[10:31] Dhira Giha: It’s relatively easy to program sensing, but not thinking. or at least not complex higher-order thinking
[10:32] Dhira Giha: Caring?!! Oh, come on
[10:32] Gentle Heron is not sure that all hired human caregivers care about me or could be my friend!
[10:32] Dhira Giha: We can’t get humans to do that
[10:32] Tim (tskillian Resident): 🙂
[10:33] Tim (tskillian Resident): What really struck me in regard to the movie and our conversation was the need for companionship
[10:33] Rodger Markova: Yes, that’s very important
[10:33] Tim (tskillian Resident): I think of my aging grandfather — who has a big loving family
[10:34] Tim (tskillian Resident): he had adult children and grandchildren visit him nearly every day but, it was still NEARLY
[10:34] Dhira Giha: I think of my dog versus Sarah Palin
[10:34] Dhira Giha: You can tell which one I would rather be on a desert island with
[10:34] Tim (tskillian Resident): the thing about the robot was that it is always there always ready to meet an instrumental need and — in the science fiction world — an expressive need
[10:35] Rodger Markova: Yes, a nice, friendly dog
[10:36] Tim (tskillian Resident): Dhira — not want to be on island with Sarah? LOL
[10:37] Megadeus Resident: What if you had an animal robot caregiver? Would you welcome that sight?
[10:37] Rodger Markova: Like K9 on Dr. Who
[10:37] Megadeus Resident: Something like that
[10:37] Gentle Heron: I had forgotten about K9, but he’s a good example!
[10:37] Rodger Markova: There are robot pets and people do respond positively to them
[10:38] Megadeus Resident: As they not trying to be same level as a human
[10:38] Dhira Giha: Some people say that people with intellectual impairments make the best helpers because (this sounds terrible, but I am quoting someone) They come close to being robots by being very patient and not expressing their opinions.
[10:40] Gentle Heron: I’ve heard that too Dhira, but like you I reject that because it de-humanizes the person with the intellectual impairment.
[10:40] Gentle Heron: Mega, do you find robotic animals less scary than robotic humans?
[10:41] Megadeus Resident: I feel human robots, Gives me that replacing us feeling.
[10:41] Rodger Markova: That’s a good point, Mega
[10:41] Gentle Heron: You mistrust humanoid robots more, Mega?
[10:42] Dhira Giha: Are you afraid of being replaced?
[10:42] Megadeus Resident: Yes, but only by their form, As I kinda trust A.I.
[10:43] Rodger Markova: Yes
[10:43] Gentle Heron: Now that’s interesting, Mega. An interesting distinction between the appearance and the function.
[10:45] Tim (tskillian Resident): I think we expect some things from human-like things — such as very subtle facial expressions and it is hard to trust something that doesn’t respond in that way.
[10:45] Megadeus Resident: I like idea of not appear intelligent, but really is.
[10:45] Rodger Markova: yes
[10:46] Gentle Heron: Tim, speaking as a person whose facial expressions aren’t “normal,” yes, that does lead to mistrust as well as misunderstanding.
[10:47] Tim (tskillian Resident): I can imagine — as we communicate so much by expressions and body language — I imagine those without that ability have keen insight into that
[10:47] Dhira Giha: Then you would love people with disabilities! Everybody treats us like we are totally without intelligence So we must look that way
[10:47] Tim (tskillian Resident): You know Dhira — I can absolutely see people responding to others in that way — and I also find it sad and unfortunate.
[10:48] Gentle Heron: Sad but true, Dhira. How often have people spoken to our carers instead of to us?
[10:49] Rodger Markova: Yes, sad.
[10:49] Dhira Giha: Sad for society
[10:49] Dhira Giha: I find it kind of funny
[10:49] Tim (tskillian Resident): I remember overcoming some of my own stereotypes when I had a young man in my class with a severe disability.
[10:50] Dhira Giha: When that happens to me in the mall or airport I just start speaking to my helper in Spanish or Japanese and pretend like I don’t speak English
[10:50] Rodger Markova smiles
[10:50] Gentle Heron: Don’t kid yourselves. People with one kind of disability have stereotypes about people with other kinds of disabilities.
[10:50] Gentle Heron: and they are just as often incorrect as other types of stereotypes.
[10:51] Rodger Markova: Yes
[10:51] Dhira Giha: True, but we have a broader range of acceptance for what is normal
[10:51] Gentle Heron: true
[10:51] Rodger Markova: Yes, I’ll wager that is true
[10:52] Tim (tskillian Resident): The young man in my class had to type all his comments into a machine in front of him — it took time, but he was smart, funny, and insightful — quickly winning my respect and those of others in the class.
[10:52] Tim (tskillian Resident): it was sad that it had to be won
[10:52] Gentle Heron: I hope few people with disabilities believe they are abnormal because of their disability.
[10:52] Tim (tskillian Resident): but, changed my way of thinking.
[10:52] Dhira Giha: This has been a delightful discussion, but I’m afraid I have to go to another meeting in Second Life. If I haven’t offended you all too terribly much. I hope you will invite me back.
[10:53] Rodger Markova: Please do come back.
[10:53] Tim (tskillian Resident): Please come back, Dhira
[10:53] Rodger Markova: and we are out of time for today.
[10:53] Rodger Markova: Does anyone object to my posting the transcript on the blog as a comment?
[10:53] Tim (tskillian Resident): fine with me, Rodger
[10:53] Gentle Heron: I’m OK with that.
[10:54] Megadeus Resident: I am good
[10:54] Dhira Giha: I’m okay with posting
[10:56] Rodger Markova: Thank you all for coming
[11:02] Rodger Markova: Bye Mega. Thanks for coming
[11:02] Tim (tskillian Resident): thanks for coming
[11:02] Gentle Heron: Bye Mega
[11:02] Gentle Heron: Thanks for contributing today.
[11:15] Gentle Heron: Nice to meet you gentlemen again.
[11:15] Gentle Heron: Thanks for running this series, Rodger.
[11:15] Rodger Markova: Thank you for coming
[11:15] Rodger Markova: Bye
[11:15] Tim (tskillian Resident): Gentle, I will be in touch
[11:17] Rodger Markova: kk. Bye Tim. Thanks
[11:17] Tim (tskillian Resident): take care.