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Lazy robots look more natural when they move
KRISTINE NOWAK/CHRISTIAN RAUH
Technology AMBIGUOUS AVATARS A NO-NO
Laziness is key to moving gracefully IF YOU want a robot to move more gracefully make, it as lazy as possible. So says Oussama Khatib of Stanford University in California, who is looking ahead to a future in which humans interact more closely with robots, and where we will expect them to move more like us. By modelling how people move, Khatib found that we naturally minimise the energy used by our muscles. “Humans are sort of lazy,” he says. That is why we sip coffee with our arm at a 30 to 45-degree angle to our bodies, not with our elbow higher up or tight against our torso. He then applied the same energy-minimising criteria to direct the way a computer model of a robot moves. In that way, he said, “we are able to produce motions with the robot that look very natural”.
obviously female blond, to ones with no clear gender, to strong-jawed males. When asked to rate the other person the volunteers found those represented by androgynous-looking avatars less “credible”. Similarly, a second group of volunteers was asked to make snap judgements based on a glimpse of the images: they were also less willing to trust the androgynous ones. The researchers say that androgyny makes avatars appear less human, causing a breakdown in trust, and that people should consider this when selecting an avatar. Distrust might also stem from a lack of context. “If someone says ‘that’s so sweet’, was it sisterly or patronising,” asks Judith Donath of MIT’s Media Lab. If it’s difficult to tell, knowing someone’s gender can help you sort it out, she explains.
27 million Americans logged on to social networking site Facebook in May, an increase of 89 per cent on May 2006
CAN YOU SPOT THE NUCLEAR SUB? A Google Earth image provided the first glimpse of China’s new “jin-class” submarine
–Who would you trust?–
Louder than you bargained for
SOURCE: COMSCORE
In his 1970s gender-bending days, musician David Bowie would have made a dubious computer avatar. It turns out we find androgynous avatars less trustworthy than those who are clearly male or female. People regularly use avatars online to represent them while chatting with friends or exploring virtual worlds. Companies also use them to interact with customers. To find out whether your choice of avatar affects how others perceive you, Kristine Nowak and Christian Rauh of the University of Connecticut in Storrs paired up volunteers and asked them to chat by typing messages into a computer. Although they didn’t meet face to face, each person was shown a computergenerated image representing the other person. These avatars ranged from an
GADGET enthusiasts might want to check the weather forecast before venturing outside listening to their MP3 players. Earphones can direct the current from a lightning strike into the head and rupture the eardrums. Eric Heffernan and colleagues at Vancouver General Hospital in Canada noticed an unusual pattern of burns on a lightning-
strike patient they were treating. One long burn stretched up the patient’s chest and neck to each ear, and there was extensive damage to both eardrums (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 357, p 198). Witnesses say the man was jogging with his iPod. The medics think that the combination of sweat and metal wiring helped channel the current through the jogger’s ears. Ordinarily lightning only conducts over the outside of the body, due to skin’s high resistance.
GIZMO Is it goodbye to the two-button computer mouse? Apple of Cupertino, California, has filed a patent (US 2007/0152966) on a transparent mouse that can “see” the user’s hand by using a camera chip inside. Different finger combinations captured by the mouse trigger different functions. Touching the mouse with thumb and index finger might open a browser, say, while a ring finger and pinkie might change font. Software bugs that could let malicious hackers take over other people’s machines can now be auctioned off online. Bug hunters can make big money by selling the bugs they find, and WabiSabiLabi of Switzerland hopes that its site will dissuade hunters from selling to hackers by making it easier to obtain fair prices from software vendors and security companies. The company will vet buyers to ensure they are legitimate.
“If we are playing poker, we are just turning over the first card” Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, on the company’s decision on Monday to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by $100 to $500. Microsoft’s Xbox costs $300 to $400, while Nintendo’s Wii is just $250. Gamers say Sony’s rivals also boast better games (San Jose Mercury News, 9 July) www.newscientist.com
14 July 2007 | NewScientist | 25
Technology AMBIGUOUS AVATARS A NO-NO
Laziness is key to moving gracefully IF YOU want a robot to move more gracefully make, it as lazy as possible. So says Oussama Khatib of Stanford University in California, who is looking ahead to a future in which humans interact more closely with robots, and where we will expect them to move more like us. By modelling how people move, Khatib found that we naturally minimise the energy used by our muscles. “Humans are sort of lazy,” he says. That is why we sip coffee with our arm at a 30 to 45-degree angle to our bodies, not with our elbow higher up or tight against our torso. He then applied the same energy-minimising criteria to direct the way a computer model of a robot moves. In that way, he said, “we are able to produce motions with the robot that look very natural”.
obviously female blond, to ones with no clear gender, to strong-jawed males. When asked to rate the other person the volunteers found those represented by androgynous-looking avatars less “credible”. Similarly, a second group of volunteers was asked to make snap judgements based on a glimpse of the images: they were also less willing to trust the androgynous ones. The researchers say that androgyny makes avatars appear less human, causing a breakdown in trust, and that people should consider this when selecting an avatar. Distrust might also stem from a lack of context. “If someone says ‘that’s so sweet’, was it sisterly or patronising,” asks Judith Donath of MIT’s Media Lab. If it’s difficult to tell, knowing someone’s gender can help you sort it out, she explains.
27 million Americans logged on to social networking site Facebook in May, an increase of 89 per cent on May 2006
CAN YOU SPOT THE NUCLEAR SUB? A Google Earth image provided the first glimpse of China’s new “jin-class” submarine
–Who would you trust?–
Louder than you bargained for
SOURCE: COMSCORE
In his 1970s gender-bending days, musician David Bowie would have made a dubious computer avatar. It turns out we find androgynous avatars less trustworthy than those who are clearly male or female. People regularly use avatars online to represent them while chatting with friends or exploring virtual worlds. Companies also use them to interact with customers. To find out whether your choice of avatar affects how others perceive you, Kristine Nowak and Christian Rauh of the University of Connecticut in Storrs paired up volunteers and asked them to chat by typing messages into a computer. Although they didn’t meet face to face, each person was shown a computergenerated image representing the other person. These avatars ranged from an
GADGET enthusiasts might want to check the weather forecast before venturing outside listening to their MP3 players. Earphones can direct the current from a lightning strike into the head and rupture the eardrums. Eric Heffernan and colleagues at Vancouver General Hospital in Canada noticed an unusual pattern of burns on a lightning-
strike patient they were treating. One long burn stretched up the patient’s chest and neck to each ear, and there was extensive damage to both eardrums (The New England Journal of Medicine, vol 357, p 198). Witnesses say the man was jogging with his iPod. The medics think that the combination of sweat and metal wiring helped channel the current through the jogger’s ears. Ordinarily lightning only conducts over the outside of the body, due to skin’s high resistance.
GIZMO Is it goodbye to the two-button computer mouse? Apple of Cupertino, California, has filed a patent (US 2007/0152966) on a transparent mouse that can “see” the user’s hand by using a camera chip inside. Different finger combinations captured by the mouse trigger different functions. Touching the mouse with thumb and index finger might open a browser, say, while a ring finger and pinkie might change font. Software bugs that could let malicious hackers take over other people’s machines can now be auctioned off online. Bug hunters can make big money by selling the bugs they find, and WabiSabiLabi of Switzerland hopes that its site will dissuade hunters from selling to hackers by making it easier to obtain fair prices from software vendors and security companies. The company will vet buyers to ensure they are legitimate.
“If we are playing poker, we are just turning over the first card” Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America, on the company’s decision on Monday to cut the price of its PlayStation 3 by $100 to $500. Microsoft’s Xbox costs $300 to $400, while Nintendo’s Wii is just $250. Gamers say Sony’s rivals also boast better games (San Jose Mercury News, 9 July) www.newscientist.com
14 July 2007 | NewScientist | 25