Why these friendly robots can't be good friends to our kids - Document - Gale Academic OneFile

go-gale-com.proxy.lib.uwaterloo.ca · 105 words · saved by 1 readers

Jibo the robot swivels around when it hears its name and tilts its touchscreen face upward, expectantly. "I am a robot, but I am not just a machine," it says. "I have a heart. Well, not a real heart. But feelings. Well, not human feelings. You know what I mean." Actually, I'm not sure we do. And that's what unsettles me about the wave of "sociable robots" that are coming online. The new releases include Jibo, Cozmo, Kuri and Meccano M.A.X. Although they bear some resemblance to assistants such as Apple's Siri, Google Home and Amazon's Alexa (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post), these robots come with an added dose of personality. They are designed to win us over not with their smarts but with their sociability. They are marketed as companions. And they do more than engage us in conversation - they feign emotion and empathy. This can be disconcerting. Time magazine, which featured Jibo on the cover of its "25 Best Inventions of 2017" issue last month, hailed

Get access from anywhere | Library | University of Waterloo --> University of Waterloo LIBRARY Get access from anywhere Get Access from Anywhere Using WatIAM Don't have a WatIAM username? Log in using your Library credentials --> Don't have a WatIAM username? Log in using your Library credentials --> LAST NAME WatCard 14-Digit BARCODE NUMBER (for example, 21187000000000) Login Commercial use of Library resources is strictly prohibited. --> Library resources are intended for your personal, academic, scholarly, or educational use only. Read the electronic resources appropriate use guidelines for

Why these friendly robots can't be good friends to our kids - Document - Gale Academic OneFile

related reading