Unconscious imprinting from growing up a Gen-Xer during the original Star Wars years tells my generation that robots are futuristic. Except that is no longer so, and hasn’t been for a while now.
One of the features that made robots from Star Wars so awe-inspiring when we were children was their ability to understand and express human sentiments and behavior. Think about little R2-D2 rolling away offended, or C-3PO’s exaggerated politeness building bonds and empathy with viewers.
AI and robots are “invading” our daily lives, especially for shopping and e-commerce. Here are three robots and related technologies that are starting to integrate meta-communication aspects that go beyond purely utilitarian language to make the communication more human in consumers’ daily lives.
