Robotic Vs. “Real” Pets (Part 2): Animal-Assisted Therapy & Loneliness in Nursing Homes: Use of Robotic Vs. Living Dogs

As humans we might like to think that we couldn’t be “fooled” by a robot; that there is some indefinable “it” factor that would always give itself away to us and let us know deep down on some level that we were dealing with an inorganic life form.  Unfortunately for us, the “it” theory has no scientific evidence to support it – quite the contrary.  In a 2008 study (authored by: Marian R. Banks, DNS, Lisa M. Willoughby, PhD, and William A. Banks, MD) researchers found that elderly residents living in long-term care facilities who received scheduled Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) with either a living or robotic dog were significantly less lonely than those who did not receive AAT, and that there was no difference between the effectiveness of a living and robotic dog in reducing loneliness.

And while this finding is significant on its own, this study was done in 2008, and since that time both robotics and artificial intelligence research has advance significantly:

(1)  Scientists at the University of Texas (Austin) have advanced artificial intelligence to the point that they were able to simulate mental illness in a computer.

(2)  A professor at the University of Georgia presented the results of an experiment in which scientists were able to teach a group of robots to cheat and deceive.

(3)  Scientists at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems developed a group of “ruthless robots” that refused to help each other locate food and in some cases intentionally diverted other robots away from the “food” source.

(4)  Google has developed a neural network simulation system supercomputer with both imagination and the ability to teach itself.  In an experiment, this supercomputer was given free access to the Internet and the ability to examine the contents of the network. There were no restrictions or guidelines, the powerful super intelligence was simply allowed to explore the entire human history and experience. And what do you think this supercomputer has chosen out of all this wealth of information?  Yes, it began browsing though images of kittens.

(5)  Another self-learning supercomputer was fed millions of newspaper articles starting from 1945.  Using this wealth of information about past events, the computer was asked to come up with suggestions on what would happen in the “future.”  And these turned out to be surprisingly accurate guesses.  How accurate?   Well, for example, it had located Bin Laden.

Also, the robot dog used in the 2008 long-term care facility experiment was not fully used to its (now six year old) potential; it was not allowed to walk around and interact on its own, and its voice and face recognition software were not used to its full capacity.  It is possible that the effects of the robot dog might have been even more enhanced had these features been activated.

robots:  six, “it” factor:  zero

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http://www.robots.nu/assets/DownloadPDF/Animal-Assisted-Therapy-and-Loneliness-in-Nursing-Homes-Use-of-Robotic-versus-Living-Dogs-PIIS1525861007005166.pdf

http://www.learning-mind.com/five-creepiest-advances-in-artificial-intelligence/