Researchers at Kyoto University are trying to teach artificial intelligence (AIs) how to laugh while talking to a human.
"We think that one of the important functions of conversational AI is empathy," said Dr. Koji Inoue of Kyoto University in a report.
"So we decided that one way a robot can empathize with users is to share their laughter," he added.
Researchers published the study in Frontiers in Robotics and AI.
Japanese Researchers Tries to Make a Laughing Robot
Reports said that researchers worked on the device to educate Android Erica's artificial intelligence to chuckle in conversation. Android is a robotic being that mimics both human behavior and appearance.
Over 80 speed-dating conversations between male participants and the robot, which was initially teleoperated by four female artists, were used in their study to gather training data.
The conversation data included labels for joyous laughing, sociable laughter, and alone laughter.
Using this data, the system was then trained to determine when to laugh and which laugh would be appropriate in each circumstance.
Inoue, the paper's lead author, told The Jerusalem Post that combining all three functions into a single robot is the paper's most significant finding.
A fairgoer interacts with Pepper, a humanoid robot manufactured by SoftBank Robotics, at the SoftBank Robotics exhibition stand during the VivaTech trade fair (Viva Technology), on May 25, 2018 in Paris.
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He claimed that correct laughing behavior, as opposed to simply hearing someone laugh and reacting to it, requires an integrated system.
Inoue emphasizes that robots should have an eccentric personality and adds that this may be shown in their social behaviors during conversation, such as laughing, eye contact, gestures, and speaking style.
However, the study notes that laughing is challenging to duplicate and requires more time and further study.
According to the researchers, it may take up to 20 years before we can converse with a robot in the same way that we would with a buddy, even though laughing is a non-linguistic behavior that also depends on the context of conversation and culture.
How Laughing Robot Works
The shared laughing system was created with the humanoid robot named Erica in mind, using Japanese as the target language.
Erica is an Android who gained notoriety for her allegedly attractive appearance and method acting skills, which helped her earn the main part in a $70 million sci-fi movie.
Erica sat with a human participant and imitated a speed dating scenario as part of the most recent study, with each interaction lasting around 10 to 15 minutes.
Every interaction was recorded, including the laughs, and entered into a program to build a unique model.
The shared laughing prediction component follows the laughter detection phase. The machine chooses whether or not to chuckle at this point.
If the response is "yes," the AI model will then choose between a mirthful laugh and a sociable chuckle as the sort of laughing to use.
According to Slash Gear, the research paper's conclusion "emphasizes the necessity of good empathic laughs."
The researchers added that "the perception of shared laughing is determined by the context and type of laugh employed."
To improve robot-human interactions, the team is now hoping that the underlying architecture be tested using languages more than simply Japanese and with a larger sample dataset.
Even while the research appears encouraging, Dr. Koji Inoue of Kyoto University thinks it may still be a few more years before people can finally have a casual discussion with a robot like we would with a friend.
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