Meet the Empathy‑Powered Robo‑Ping‑Pong
On a chilly January 11, 2018, a robot named Forpheus rolled onto the stage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, not just to delete a cushion of tennis balls from the floor but to read your heartbeats, laugh, and offer a pep talk between serves.
What for? Medium‑Sized Robot Mimics Mind & Mood
Keith Kersten of Omron Automation, the Japanese tech giant that has babies overseas, gave a quick demo that felt more like a chat with your own personal coach. “It’s trying to get inside your vibe,” he painted, “to predict the next trick shot.” The twist? Omron doesn’t plan to sell the bot—just to flaunt how machines can understand us.
“If You Want Friends You Can Just Get a Robot Humanized”
CES was a showcase of robots that don’t just roll out the red carpet but feel you. From Honda’s 3E-A18 that rolls out a curtain of “compassionate” facial expressions to Blue Frog Robotics’ Buddy that might plead with a ‘hand‑shake’‑request if you don’t give it a nip… They’re all trying to become the seventh child in a tech family.
Why It’s Human‑Like, Not Human‑Level
- Emotion‑AI: the robot’s “brain” looks at your face, voice tone, even the angle your head leans into your future. SoftBank’s Pepper listens to your laughter and Smirk.
- Humanized Design: developers fashion a face so you don’t feel like you’re conversing with a box of bolts.
- Robotic Empathy is a mix of computer vision and psychology — like pairing a shoebox with a therapist.
Emotion Chips: The Next Step
One person at CES on a mission to “synthesize” emotion announced a chip that could let robots feel in a human‑like way. “We’re doing the reverse of emotion detection: we’re creating machine emotions,” said Patrick Levy-Rosenthal from Emoshape. Think of it as giving a robot a “feeling IV,” allowing an e‑reader to narrate a story that’s actually moving.
Smart Table Tennis, Smart Health Care, Smart Business
Kersten imagined Forpheus as more than a table‑tumble‑master. Picture a venue where it tells you if a player is “canary‑alerted” to trouble on their racket or when a businessman is “driving deep in stress.” Or a senior‐care center where the robot can sniff out a person in distress before someone comes to the rescue.
Will Robots Replace Us?
Patrick Moorhead, a tech analyst, warned that “empathy” runs “as hard as it gets.” The data suggests we might drop into a future where a chummy robot is your best friend, especially if you’re an introvert or don’t have a best friend sitting across from you. But yeah, it could feel slightly creepy if your robot offers a shoulder to cry on. Just be sure your machine can ignore your tears and not be affected by “emotional contagion.”
Wrapping It Up
CES 2018 truly spotlighted the emotional side of robotics. With robots that can see, feel, and speak in gentle human terms, the question isn’t if technology can be empathic—but how soon they will become the voice on the other side of your phone when you forget a meeting.
