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sadetheruiner t1_iy65yok wrote

I hope I’m wrong but I can just see in my mind frat boys vandalizing them. I won’t go into details what went through my head.

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marketrent OP t1_iy66xhs wrote

Excerpt:

>Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin recently received expanded funding from the National Science Foundation to continue their work studying human-robot interactions.

>To do this, the team plans to release four-legged robots around the university campus and collect data on what it finds. The project will begin in 2023 and run for five years.

>“When we deploy robots in the real world, it's not just a technical problem, it's actually a socio-technical problem,” Joydeep Biswas, assistant professor of computer science in the College of Natural Sciences and member of the research team, told Ars.

>The research team will set up a network, and UT Austin community members—students, staff, et cetera—will be able to use an app on their smartphones to deliver goods like hand wipes and sanitizer.

> 

>While deployed, the robots will inevitably run into (possibly literally) pedestrians, cyclists, scooter riders, and larger vehicles. The researchers will watch and study the interactions between these mobile humans and machines.

>The robots will be monitored either in-person or remotely so the researchers can collect data about how the robots interact with the humans they encounter and stop the robots if they act in undesirable ways.

>The team will also create a research database to collect the data from the study and investigate how we can deploy autonomous robots in human environments, “not just for five minutes or for an hour, but for years at a time,” Biswas said.

Doug Johnson for Ars Technica, 12 November 2022.

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meatcandy97 t1_iy6760h wrote

For sure one is getting raped.

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BrettEskin t1_iy68j9k wrote

Do this in Philly cowards

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Xul-luX t1_iy68p3v wrote

a nice way to say surveillance beta test.

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captain_joe6 t1_iy697yt wrote

Will it support, say, 250lbs?

No reason…

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f5alcon t1_iy69zu4 wrote

I think it's funny that the university of Texas is just referred to as a university in Texas. Even though it's the largest one, highest ranked academically and has the largest endowment of any public university in the country.

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Guaranteed-Return t1_iy6a7zh wrote

Most brain dead screen watchers will never even know.

−2

ArchitectNebulous t1_iy6ac7n wrote

Just stick googly eyes on it and keep it out of the uncanny valley.

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NotActuallyGus t1_iy6alc2 wrote

They're going to be stolen, vandalized, or shot within a week.

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djeasyg t1_iy6aovt wrote

Got it in Lyft last night on a really narrow road that was two way but only one car could go at a time. Encountered a driverless car coming at the us. Lyft driver was all fuck this I’m not backing up. There was a couple of minute standoff and finally the driverless car backed up and let us pass.

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ExtonGuy t1_iy6bimb wrote

Year 2042: robot researchers study human-human relations. Plot twist: there are only two humans left on campus.

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shamwowj t1_iy6bnwo wrote

Somebody gonna kill that thing.

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SloppyMeathole t1_iy6d54v wrote

I hope they give it a guard, cuz otherwise it's going to be stolen/fucked up within hours.

1

PM_ME_HUGE_CRITS t1_iy6dct6 wrote

You could save a lot of money by putting someone in a robot suit and doing the same thing. It's just going to get shoved and knocked down, maybe written on.

1

MikeLinPA t1_iy6e6k6 wrote

When I was a kid in the 60s,i wanted a robot more than anything! There was a robot on Lost in Space, and Gigantor, and AstroBoy, and nothing else could be cooler!

Now I'm an adult, and there is a huge in-the-way pos robot roaming the aisles of Giant Supermarket, and I am surprised at how much I despise that damned thing! I want to knock it over every time it sneaks up on me or gets in my way! (It patrols the store looking for spills. It doesn't even clean them up, it calls for a cleanup in aisle #. That's its whole job. What a waste.)

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NolanSyKinsley t1_iy6f656 wrote

A walmart near me tried out robotic inventory scanners. When they first started people were kinda weirded out by them and would just stop and watch them. By about 2 weeks in everybody seemed to get used to them, but walmart canceled the experiments a few days later because it didn't actually help their operations in a meaningful way.

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KaisarDragon t1_iy6fm8v wrote

Robot comes back with graffiti sprayed all over it, wearing furry appendages, and reeking of beer.

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kidnyou t1_iy6g7dp wrote

Trying to build a “good robot with a gun” to protect the campus?

2

LiliNotACult t1_iy6hxkh wrote

Because apparently already stressed college students during a global recession with the potential of WW3 involving Russia, China, and nuclear weapons, need to have their walking space occupied by shitty robots fumbling around that they'll get sued if they damage.

1

Falagard t1_iy6ilo2 wrote

Don't do this, all you're doing is giving a reason for future A.I. to wipe us out because I guarantee people will be complete jerks to these robots. The A.I. of the future will use this study, and other studies and data, to justify the eradication of our entire species.

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Potemkin_Jedi t1_iy6jpjd wrote

Replying to sadetheruiner (#749,692)

It’s not necessarily the same thing, but the university where I work has been using autonomous food-delivery robots on-campus for a few years and everyone has treated them with respect as they navigate around. Now the app-powered scooters that were littered all over campus…those have ended up in various bodies of water and some sturdy trees.

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Isthatyourfinger t1_iy6lsld wrote

A drunk student will piss on it in the first thirty minutes. Who wants to be friends with a robot that smells like piss?

1

sadetheruiner t1_iy6lxef wrote

Replying to Potemkin_Jedi (#752,564)

I’m happy to hear the food delivery bots are treated with respect, not that I feel current technology has feelings or sentience, but purely from the standpoint of ignorant destruction for the sake of destruction is a bad trend for humanity. I can’t even sit in an ivory tower on this one I was a stupid teenager and even now I get satisfaction from breaking down cardboard for the recycling.

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Potemkin_Jedi t1_iy6n09j wrote

Replying to sadetheruiner (#753,010)

It’s interesting because the delivery robots are roughly dog-sized (knee-high and longer than they are tall or wide); I find myself treating them with the deference of service animals, so maybe their appearance has something to do with how they are treated.

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cole_braell t1_iy6ny9u wrote

Enter PETR, like PETA but for robots.

3

AdventurousFloors t1_iy6pkl3 wrote

I hope they all get kicked around until they break

−2

745395 t1_iy6pknn wrote

I used to be excited about future tech. Now that future tech is here or near, and I'm terrified. All this shit will ultimately lead to an even more militarized police state with AI death bots killing innocent people.

2

Exact-Permission5319 t1_iy6qj08 wrote

Stop making us the guinea pigs for the technology that will one day enslave us. Fuck these people. They are selling us the rope they plan to hang us with.

1

Known2779 t1_iy6wwf4 wrote

Probably some people will block the robots entrance like what they did to the Black entrance to University during the 60s

0

Commie_EntSniper t1_iy6xcds wrote

Deploy 4 legged robots strictly for the purpose of interacting with humans. I see nothing wrong with this study.

1

D2ThaHizzle t1_iy6y8lj wrote

Can people please stop fucking around with fucking robots! This will not end well!

Best case scenario… robots make our lives so comfortable that humans keep getting fatter and dumber.

Worst case scenario… We’ve all seen terminator and black mirror.

Just. Fucking. Stop.

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GalaxiaOvis t1_iy7020f wrote

I have worked in two places where inanimate objects were given name badges and treated as coworkers. One being a giant pink naked chicken that made a horrendous death scream when you squeezed it (Kitchen Chicken) and a rag doll scarecrow left over from last years fall inventory in a grocery store that we now refuse to sell (Madeline)

I can only imagine the humanization that would occur if either thing showed even the slightest bit of sentience.

I know I’d wanna give it a pat and call it a good bot like a proper redditor would.

1

[deleted] t1_iy75h6l wrote

I feel like I saw this in a movie once….

1

legoluke t1_iy76n11 wrote

More useless shit spending for our future dystopia. Corporations so eager to spend on our non human future can’t find couple dollars for current human employees.

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LegitimateCrows t1_iy77t5m wrote

Sorry I already saw this episode of Black Mirror. It doesn’t end well - for the humans.

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Jaedos t1_iy7955w wrote

All you need to know is a robot travelled the world over several months on the generosity and curiosity of humans, and then was brutally destroyed within days or maybe even hours of arriving in Philly.

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DuckDuckGoose42 t1_iy7a2e4 wrote

Replying to marketrent (#749,870)

And researchers have the consent of all participants and passersby to participate in research project and have data collected about them and their actions? No? Hmm...ethics board where are you?

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viazcon78 t1_iy7dg4m wrote

A social robot? You’ll find them high and drunk on 6th Street.

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maru_tyo t1_iy7h49j wrote

Watch Dogs 2 already had this.

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4tetraphobia4 t1_iy87qhv wrote

I expect blatant robot mistreatment and damage.

Source: I am human. This is what humans tend to do.

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SpecificAstronaut69 t1_iy8dpaz wrote

Replying to sadetheruiner (#753,010)

> but purely from the standpoint of ignorant destruction for the sake of destruction is a bad trend for humanity.

I mean, it's been going' one for about 65,000 years, sooo...I wouldn't really call it a "trend" so much as "the status quo".

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JOBrien5242 t1_iy8jqkc wrote

You guys are really just going to get a bunch of “ ah shit yo” and “ Oh my gawd what is that”. Unfortunately.

1

lionhart280 t1_iy8l14d wrote

So far the way people respond to robots seems to be heavily influenced by the way the robot looks.

The SPOT robots (the yellow doglike ones) seem to be super popular and well received due to, well, their resemblance to a dog. I have had some interactions with them and I shit you not sometimes people straight up try and give it scritches to see what happens.

When people respond positively like this it likely correlates to people treating it well. People typically dont go out of their way to hurt small cute animals walking around.

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ndobie t1_iy96bvr wrote

Replying to captain_joe6 (#750,336)

I am assuming this is a joke but to be specific DO NOT RIDE THE ROBOT. Spot is an industrial robot and can do significant damage if your hands get in the wrong place.

Also its weight limit is 30lbs.

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LeepII t1_iy9q10t wrote

Time till some drunk jock kills a robot...weeks?

1

Ok-Brilliant-1737 t1_iy9rap7 wrote

We need to take this opportunity to develop methods to disable these rapidly and without firearms.

1

StrangeCharmVote t1_iya7wr5 wrote

Replying to HolyAndOblivious (#760,040)

And the answer is already exactly the same amount everything else does unsupervised.

People already know there are consequences if caught.

Why would you possibly think a study would be dismissed, when the devices themselves are already covered in cameras?

Seriously, think about what you're saying.

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StrangeCharmVote t1_iybaw2u wrote

Replying to HolyAndOblivious (#785,974)

> No. You really want to measure. The difference between science and screwing around is measuring this appropriately and having a log.

You seem to misunderstand something.

I'm in favor of the study.

The dingus i was replying to, thought having robots which were observed, would invalidate the study on robots... which pretty universally are already under some kind of observation.

I thought that opinion, was dumb.

> For it to be valid knowledge ot needs to be tested

And how are you going to validate anything when you're literally excluding the possibility of tangible results if an event occurs?

1