Improbable Research

Dr. Christoph Bartneck, at the University of Canterbury HITLab NZ, not only investigates whether robot cats and dogs can be programmed to convincingly display ‘pain’, he also develops taxonomical models for LEGO Minifigures® – of which there are now more than 4000 (and 3600 are listed in his book ‘The Unofficial LEGO Minifigure® Catalog’

He explains some of the rationale behind the new approach here :

“Besides categorizing the figures, we also need to have a nomenclature. The Linnaean taxonomy uses the the [sic] combination of a genus name and a second term. Of course we should not use Latin terms, as proposed by Linnaeus. We could us [sic] acronyms and serial numbers. Here is my proposal:

aaa-bbb-yyyy-sss

where:

aaa stands for the second last level in the taxonomy, for example stw for Star Wars
bbb stands for the last level in the taxonomy, for exampel [sic]  ep1 for Episode 1
yyyy stands for the year in which the figure was produced first, for example 2001
sss stands for a three digit serial number with preceedings [sic] zeros, for example 007

The advantage of this nomenclature is that [sic] distinguish between the older figures in the Town theme from the newer figures in the City theme. “

An interactive map of the proposed taxonomy can be explored here

Specific buttocks get a thorough analysis in this study:

“A subject-specific model of human buttocks and thighs in a seated posture,” Rami M.A. Al-Dirini, Matthew Reed, Gunther Paul, Gunther and Dominic Thewlis,  in 7th Australasian Congress on Applied Mechanics, ACAM 7, 9-12 December 2012, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.

“MR image processing was conducted to both the left and the right sides of the model due to the intended asymmetric posture of the volunteer during the MR measurements. The presented subject-specific, three-dimensional model of the buttocks and thighs will add value to optimisation cycles in automotive seat development”

(Thanks to investigator Neil Martin for bringing this to our attention.)

“The shocks are becoming too much.”
“Please, please stop.”
“My circuits cannot handle the voltage.”
“I refuse to go on with the experiment.”
“That was too painful, the shocks are hurting me.”

The dialogue above may remind readers of Stanley Milgram’s disturbing (and now-classic) psychology experiments on authority and obedience (1963). But there’s a difference. The clue is in the word ‘circuits’. For this 2008 experiment was not performed with a human subject in the hot seat – but with an apparently intelligent robot (made of LEGO® – see pic).

Researchers at the UseLab of the Technical University of Eindhoven, Dr. Christoph Bartneck and Dr. Jun Hu , instructed the participants in the experiment – entitled : Exploring the abuse of robots  (Interaction Studies, Volume 9, Number 3, 2008) to administer ‘electric  shocks’ to the robot – up to a staggering level of 450 volts. But unlike Milgram’s study, in which 35% of participants refused to administer the fatal voltage, this time none of them turned down the order to give the robot the full (and presumably lethal) shock treatment. There are implications, say the researchers :

“…the results show that people have fewer concerns about abusing robots than about abusing other people.”

but add :

“ …it appears difficult to make valid conclusions about the relationship between the destructive behaviour and the animacy of the robot.”

The paper can be read in full here :

Notes:

● The second part of the experiment involved participants smashing a robot with a hammer in order to ‘kill’ it.

● The robot abused in the study bears a remarkable similarity to the one identified in two very similar earlier (2005) experiments, also conducted at UseLab but this time by Chioke Rosalia, Rutger Menges, Inèz Deckers, and Christoph Bartneck. See: ‘Cruelty towards robots’ and : ‘Robot Abuse – A Limitation of the Media Equation’  But, oddly perhaps, neither appear to be cited in the newer Bartneck/Hu study.

● All of the participants laughed or giggled during the ‘lethal’ shocking episodes : “Their spontaneous laughter suggests that the setup of the experiment was believable.” say the researchers.

COMING SOON : More robot torture

Deepak Chopra — winner of the 1998 Ig Nobel physics prize ”for his unique interpretation of quantum physics as it applies to life, liberty, and the pursuit of economic happiness” — wrote an open letter complaining about the TED Talks. Dr. Chopra complains that the TED talks “practice semi-censorship” on people who are as tremendously inventive as Dr. Chopra is. [One of Dr. Chopra's many inventive books is pictured here, at right.]

Chris Anderson, organizer of the TED Talks, wrote an open letter of reply, under the headline “TED, Censorship, Consciousness, Militant Atheists, and Pseudo Science!”

Several Ig Nobel Prize winners have been invited to give TED Talks and TEDx talks. Those talks were generally highly publicized. Click on the links here to see talks by Kees Moeliker (shown here, below), Dan Ariely, Phil Zimbardo, Bart Knols, and Magnus Wahlberg.

Dr. Chopra himself has not given a TED Talk, but was once part of a discussion that happened at a spur TED event.

BONUS: I (the organizer of the Ig Nobel Prizes) myself will be giving a talk at TEDx CERN, on May 3 of this year.

Here is Kees Moeliker’s recent TED talk:

Luak coffee — coffee made from beans eaten and excreted by the luak (an animal also known as the palm civet) — is becoming more popular, something that’s been happening at least since 1995, the  year the foodstuff was the subject of an Ig Nobel Prize. The popularity is increasing demand for the animal, which is a big problem, says this recent study:

“Observations of small carnivores in Jakarta wildlife markets, Indonesia, with notes on trade in Javan Ferret Badger Melogale orientalis and on the increasing demand for Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus for civet coffee production,” Chris R. Shepherd, Small Carnivore Conservation, vol. 47, December 2012, pp. 38–41. The author, at TRAFFIC Southeast Asia, Selangor, Malaysia, writes:

“Six species of small carnivores were recorded during spot checks carried out in wildlife markets in Jakarta, Java, Indonesia, in 2010 and 2012, including Javan Ferret Badger Melogale orientalis, a little-known species rarely observed in trade. Most numerous was Common Palm Civet Paradoxurus hermaphroditus,which is increasingly being taken from the wild for the production of kopi luwak (‘civet coffee’).”

Here’s detail from the study:

BONUS: Mongabay.com gives their view on the matter.

<http://news.mongabay.com/2013/0416-hance-kopi-luwak.html#TQat0khiPKe6HJ6A.99>