Without criticism! Having the advantage of not being human, intelligent physical dolls? The rise of companion robots

Intelligent physical dolls, also known as companion robots. At present, people believe that it wants to replace humans, but the biggest obstacle is that it is ultimately not human. However, who would have thought that in the field of psychotherapy, the fatal flaw of not being human has become the biggest advantage of physical dolls.

 

Syrian refugees generally suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, but severely lack medical resources. Recently, with the assistance of a foreign start-up company, some refugees communicated with intelligent physical dolls equipped with AI chips, and the results were amazing.

 

The AI devices that can converse have witnessed the leapfrog growth of related technologies in this field, from being unknown in the early days, experimental computer programs, to Apple's Siri stunning the world, and then to concept products such as home assistants and smart butlers rushing to market in the past 1-2 years. However, in addition to entering the consumer market, companion robots have also shown great potential in another unexpected field, which is psychological counseling and psychotherapy.

 

A team composed of renowned university psychologists and artificial intelligence engineers has launched a chat program called Woebot, which can chat and converse with users who are experiencing psychological disorders, track their mood fluctuations, and provide timely activities such as videos and crossword puzzles to adjust and transfer the emotions of patients. Due to the close fitting and on-demand nature of Woebot, developers claim that using Woebot may even achieve better therapeutic effects than human counselors.

 

Compared to going to the psychiatric department or seeking help from a psychological counselor, the biggest benefit of companion robots is that they can remove psychological barriers that patients may encounter when revealing their inner thoughts. "They allow you to open up and speak freely," said the technical experts involved in research and development. "Communication between people is prone to noise, and patients may fear the eyes of others and be afraid of being labeled."

 

That is to say, the biggest innate advantage of companion robots is that they are just a combination of silicone, steel, and a string of algorithms. They have no blood or flesh, and can listen to the patient's most private and profound thoughts without criticism, completely neutral. This is not an intuitive speculation, but a result confirmed through research.

 

As early as 2014, the Higher Research Projects Agency funded a study to create a robot called "Ellie". 239 participants were divided into two groups to have conversations with "Ellie". The researchers informed a group of people beforehand that Ellie was a 100% robot, while another group was informed that Ellie was manipulated by personnel, but in reality, the interviewees for each subject were randomly determined on-site. The experimental results found that participants who thought they were talking to robots were more candid and willing to open up their hearts, indicating that the factor of "human" became a barrier in psychotherapy.

 

Companion robots have the ability to soothe people's hearts, and the huge business opportunities behind them will soon be smelled by new entrepreneurs. In addition to existing physical doll manufacturers and robot manufacturers in research and development, if emerging industries are also preparing to seize this market pie. Perhaps soon, there will be an additional psychologist in the career program replaced by "artificial humans".




--Reprinted from the public account: Entity doll combat experience