Robots with "soul" | Guy Hoffman

What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots -- including two musical bots that like to jam with humans. (Filmed at TEDxJaffa.)
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[@DancingOnInfinity]

I WANT THAT DANCING SPEAKER ROBOT SOOOOO BAD!!! THATS ADORABLE!!

[@JoelPadua]

"Robots that are less perfect are perfect for us."

[@LathanCroweTV]

"Maybe Black Mesa? That was a joke. Ha Ha. Fat Chance!"

[@AlxM96]

These robots act indeed like humans, and that's exactly the point, for as far as the technology may have gotten it is still all about acting. Even though I strongly believe in the possibilities of technological progress, this is still far away from true artificial intelligence or even a robotic soul. Still, I'm very impressed by his job and the outcomes of his work, and, results aside, it's thanks to people like him that the technology keeps evolving as much as we all hope, to eventually bring us better lifestyles.

[@morgancollins4161]

***** your comment was amazing sir. Exactly what I was thinking. You is just a clever construct thought up by a very powerful combination of software and hardware (the mind and the brain). Saying that they're just acting is saying that you're only willing to accept human intelligence as intelligence, which is the wrong way to see it in my opinion. Robots may think differently, but when the results are equally or far more powerful in some cases you can't say it's not intelligence just because it's not the way you and I do it.

[@morgancollins4161]

***** Yep! Actually what you said about it not being seen as 'real intelligence' no matter how good it is, is something I actually brought up in a Artificial Intelligence presentation I conducted a few months back. Yes, it isn't human intelligence, because technically to be authentic it must do the same thing, but also be produced the same way, but the same isn't true for intelligence as a whole, just because we're the only creature we know of that is intelligent to our level, doesn't mean we are the best at intelligence. It fact evolution will have only made us as intelligent as necessary, because beyond the point that our species had to compete, the evolutionary pressures were lifted so evolution slows down, because you don't need higher intelligence than your peers to survive and breed anymore, so we are most likely, as the theory of how far computational power can go by the laws of physics, a far way off what is really possible in intelligence. Its great that we have the sufficient intelligence to create the tools necessary to bridge the gap to a higher level of intelligence.

[@AlxM96]

Morgan Collins ***** I hope you can devote a few minutes of your life to my words, for as many as they can be, to answer to your previous comments. Morgan, I can see your point in your first comment and I can totally agree with you. Also, I looked up split-brain, and I found amazing what results the damage of the corpus callosum can lead to, that really makes us question the way our brain and consciousness work. Despite the fact that what you said was completely right, I was stating another concept rather that “we humans don’t act”, what I was saying is that these robots in the video are taught to act, they are programmed to do what they do and can respond only to a certain limited amount of inputs they receive. You could argue we are taught to act just as well, but while we do it we are Not just following predetermined paths unavoidable because written as lines of code, for the simple reason our mind (omitting every philosophical debate about its very nature) works differently from a computer, (just look up quantum mind or quantum cognition). With this I’m not discriminating what I consider to be or not intelligent (humans or robots) I’m just stating they work differently. It’s Stephen Hawking himself who once said “There is no physical law precluding particles from being organised in ways that perform even more advanced computations than the arrangements of particles in human brains”, pretty clear concise and indisputable. Talking about this point, Morgan, I’d love you not to refer to me as “this guy”, first of all; now, I have never said I believe I have a “soul”, I just quoted that particular word in my comment because it was used in the video. Also thank you for wishing me to get brain damage, very mature and useful to prove your point. John, I don’t know about robotics, but I can see my concept of “intelligence” doesn’t differs so much from yours and Morgan's. Now, cleared that, at the end of your first comment Morgan, you are supporting a theory that really closely reminds me of solipsism. This has nothing to do with acting, and that’s quite a “sly” theory, and you know that because it cannot be neither proven nor disproven. Because, you said it, we cannot know anything outside our own brain.

[@morgancollins4161]

Matteo Alessandro I'm not sure who you're referring to when you said someone wished brain damage on you, but I can ensure you if it was me I apologise if I caused offence but this would not have been my intention. Now, to your point, I agree with you, other than there is no such things as 'acting' as far as I'm concerned. Is our brain just using neurons to act intelligent, or are we actually intelligent? In that question I suppose you could argue for both parts but I would just argue that the argument is completely pointless from the very beginning. Who cares what you class as intelligence, that isn't science it is just philosophy, and let's face it, a lot of philosophical questions although interesting make little difference to the world of technology, it doesn't bring about much progress and isn't my interest, although don't let that make you think I'm against philosophy, because I'm not, I would just argue in the scientific stand point of what conciousness really is and if true strong AI is possible, the philosophy isn't really relevant. The brain does work differently from a computer, but it is unravelling there are many similarities, we are all just computing systems, and whether our brain uses the same system as our robots do, what does it matter? The brain isn't the definition of what intelligence is as I'm sure you know, so whether a computer acts differently or not means nothing to it's potential intelligence. To your point with robots just acting off of lines of code, you quickly anticipated my reply that we are also merely lines of code, but the intelligence arises from us having very sophisticated code and the ability for the brain to be rewired when new information is found to make a better structure, this is exactly what we do and exactly what the smarter AIs of today are doing, it's how intelligence thrives, in its most basic understanding. In this case the basic AI of a robot wouldn't be unavoidable, it could be rewritten, in the way we are 'programmed' to want to make babies but we do not have to give in to our instincts. Just because some programming is almost concrete doesn't mean there couldn't be a system where there isn't always a specific piece of code that must be run, a computer could decide what to do given it's past experiences and other pieces of information present, it could even derive information from experiences and create complete new ones using logic, and from this starts to arise a conciousness and personality. When you speak of quantum minds, I have heard of this before and although i'm not sure if this is quite true, if it is, we have quantum computers too, although i'm not sure if there is any evidence of quantum minds but by the evidence I have on the subject I am very sceptical of it, the things that are required for quantum minds is very complex, and I would argue that if this was the case our brains would also by much more powerful, although quantum computers are now kicking off so the idea that quantum minds means computer won't match us is irrelevant in that sense. I am a solipsist by the word I would suppose, because the idea is completely sound. I wouldn't say that it means it is really because you can't disprove it but you cannot argue that you can't disprove it, so essentially as far as I'm concern solipsism is undeniable, unless you have proof, which no-one does as far as I know. Although I'm not sure how you are relating that to this topic, because solipsism is not very important at all, as yes its unprovable but its extremely unlikely and it doesn't seem that way and the fact we can't prove it ever so there's no sense in taking time to worry about it, where as this sort of stuff, in a time of more and more AI more and more intelligent day by day is more important. In conclusion, all I was saying was judging by what the word intelligence means, what we know about the brain and the way this AI works, there is no sense in calling it acting, because they are both just complex data manipulators that work in different manners, both created in some fashion, one by a creator and one by evolution (as far as i'm concerned but let's not get into that debate) so the only reason to differentiate between the two is personal bias, because it would mean nothing to us if our brains worked differently but gave the same output, so yeah, it just seems to be completely irrelevant how something works, in the same way there is no right or wrong way to do a math equation given you always reach at the right answer 100% of the time, the only question is efficiency, and given that point, these computers have the potential to being far more efficient one day.

[@AlxM96]

Morgan Collins All in all, I believe that I was a little bit too brief in my first comment (I probably had to differentiate the concepts of “intelligence” and “consciousness” and refer properly to them. Also your point on the usefulness of talking about philosophy and science is completely right, even though, as we have seen here, sometimes the two can hardly be separated), that’s where all the argument came from. I’m saying this because I couldn’t agree more with what you said, and I can clearly see you really put effort and time into answering me which is remarkable for a youtube comment. In fact the only thing I regret is that such an interesting debate couldn’t be led in person. Still, very educated, thoughtful and deep reply, I love meeting such smart individuals like you sir on the internet :)

[@00FantMod]

Give him what he need to build more! :D awsome.

[@Sleazysadpanda]

everytime i see something like this i always tear up a little bit, just makes me happy to know i live in this time. its quite amazing

[@YokeyDokey]

Sleazysadpanda awww

[@MrJJandJim]

Who else looked at the miramba bot's head and thought of the Portal games?

[@MrJJandJim]

Miles tails Prower All it needs is a blue ring around its eye and it'll turn into Wheatley, or a yellow eye and it'll be GLaDOS! Not that I'd expect them to take over or anything and try to kill me with mashy-spike plates or deadly neurotoxin.... Ahem, what were we talking about again?

[@MrJJandJim]

***** SPAAACE!!

[@generico366]

Me.

[@blerst7066]

MrJJandJim me

[@jlishere-dq2xn]

Who did not

[@ShiroKage009]

12:18 ... OMG HE'S CREATING GLADOS! STOP, STOPSTOPSTOPSTOP!

[@Fr0stTr011]

Nah, don't worry, looks more like Wheatley.

[@justintwine6896]

galdos? never heard of her

[@LiezerZero]

NEVER!!!! GLADOS IS LOGIC!

[@edisonmedunjani5330]

facebook.com/FastAndFuriousTeam0fficial

[@prankfiles]

LMAO~~~~~~ :DD

[@flixeyt]

Very cool. Cannot wait to get my very own Jarvis.. A little guy that can provide me with lighting, but also help me hold stuff. That would be fantastic!

[@SangoProductions213]

I personally would have never thought about that. I even would have had a "robot musician" be a speaker with recorded sounds it would play...but he does make a good point in that motion does make it seem a bit more "alive," even if it's not as efficient as it could be. Good thing to think about. Thanks very much for sharing this, Guy Hoffman.

[@NoWarInBaSingSe]

This guy is 21st century Leonardo da Vinci. He did acting, music, psychology, robotics, animation, and a lot of other stuff!

[@radug1092]

And this is how GLaDOS was born.

[@MuzafarUmarov]

This is an amazing TED Talk.

[@leerman22]

I want my desk lamp to assault intruders!

[@PoxikFrostbite]

I feel like this is the natural evolution of robotics. The dynamics of all action, and not just analytics, is how we all live and work. I can't wait to interact, create, and work with out new age companions. Computers and robots are becoming much more than a tool. They are an interactive, intuitive, and in their own way, creative entities. Do not be one to dismiss or resist this new era!

[@heartquintessence1813]

Take Chances, Make Mistakes.. get MessY! - In the words of Miss Frizzle of the Magic School Bus--- I think these future robots did her proud- and hopefully will do that in the future.

[@ianyockey8485]

i would love to have a robot companion

[@gimpdoctor8362]

way to go TED this is more like it, finally something worth watching

[@armygringo]

When will they start making WALL-E's??

[@Mcflapphypants]

Someone already did, only thing it was missing was the actual compactor.

[@rijulg]

When the entire population is as obese as it was in the movie, so, soon!

[@BattleManiac7]

I want one of those speaker robot things!

[@glenbartholomew1058]

Now that was fun. With the last robot, can it learn what music someone likes, then search for other music throughout the day and introduce this new music to its human?

[@veganath]

879 people were sooo caught up in bobbing their head & moving to the music that they accidentally clicked the thumbs down ...lol

[@undefeated29]

"Maybe they should be able to take chances and improvise, and maybe be able to anticipate what you're about to do... and maybe make mistakes and correct them"... so scary.

[@Towkeeyoh]

Oh man, that closing line was great!

[@dentalfloss7042]

As long as it is not connected to the internet and loves data mining everything i own and share my interests like a bad friend, I am totally cool with robots having a grand and delightful personality.

[@WhiteslashblackMan]

... and skynet became self aware on june 4th, 2016 at 3:47pm

[@MrStemkilla]

this guy is very smart and well versed. his work is outstanding. the world needs more people like this.

[@HTladyinthemist]

The lamp is so cute XD I love all these designs

[@brian9801]

Awesome! Now I can get a robot to dance with me when no one's around!

[@Eureka_3D_Printing]

Someone better stick googly eyes to that machine!

[@CATSDREAMS]

The beginning of GLaDOS!!!

[@Uraveragegamer172]

I would totally go to an all robot concert

[@yalla_halim]

Jazz impro with a robot, robot with a taste for music ... Serendipity, smoothness and inaccuracy in movements gives "life" to robots :)

[@Toastmaster_5000]

as a robot developer, i agree with what this guy says. the problem is robots need to prove their worth, and right now they're a little too expensive to do something that you could just do with another human. I personally don't believe robots should be human replacements.

[@namenloss730]

reminds me of iron man's robot "assistants" in the movies

[@vincentvycetv]

I would feel comfortable with a robot like the little speaker bot, or a desk lamp but I really dislike it when robots are made to look like little animals or people

[@MJBrewer]

This proves that "communicating" between two points is more conducive than a one-way communication. In other words, when interaction is present people are more suseptable to respond by either answering, looking, or even listening. In communication where it takes two sides, such as comedy, where there is an anticipated response, the message is listened to more often than the delivery of a speech. Characters created with facial expressions create more of a bond than inanimate objects. With the lamps at the beginning, emotion was present, however it takes time for the audience to warm up. If the lamps had been teddy bears, it would have happened sooner. Still, Pixar creators are masters at the game.

[@AugustVonpetersborg]

Perfect example of how the hard and human sciences need to be used in conjunction for best effect.

[@Itsnotatree]

I love how his inspiration from such a humble little cartoon. Also love what he is working towards.

[@randomlettersqzkebkw]

And so, it begins...

[@tacyourface9437]

I would definitely pay for the speaker robot at the end, that is really cool how that's done.

[@symbolxchannel]

Portal 2… GLaDOS :-p

[@alphashadowgame2549]

As soon as I saw the musician robot's head, he instantly reminded me of Wheatley :D

[@mikeg642000]

One question: Will you be selling your awesome lamps soon?

[@pooounderscoreman]

I love the quotation marks around "soul"

[@tobiassteely3295]

We are human we make mistakes, robots may not be perfect, but they are perfect for us. That is my favorite line ever. This is now my motto.

[@tylerchristensen1535]

WHY ARE WE NOT FUNDING THIS RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@rocconicholls934]

You do realize the amount of funding that goes into this is massive, right? You really think that guy paid, out of his pocket, the tens of thousands of dollars used to physically produce the technology, software, and especially hardware that went into this? Imagine the current price for that Xylophone robot. How much would you expect to pay for these things? It's probably 100-1000 times that expensive to build just the first one.

[@HARCHARNsinghTOHRA]

new tech. robot is very interested it is very useful for the music groups and some other areas. I THANKFUL TO THE TED CHHANEL WHO WORKS HARD FOR THIS.

[@LeonidasGGG]

This is really awesome! Altough it will be just "acting" this is exactly what we need to breach the gap between human-machine interaction. Soon we will have them helping helderly, looking after children, and even...other stuff. (lol) Cannot wait!

[@RegeroTerra]

We already have a robot that raises our children for us: It's called the TV.

[@Counterstream]

Bullshit. No machine can ever have a soul because the soul is a divine gift from God to man. It cannot be transferred over from man to machine. JK, God doesn't exist. This is cool stuff.

[@MrCodaman]

lol, what a smartass

[@iliaadamanthark8336]

"Soul" here maybe refer to consciousness or maybe human way of thinking

[@Counterstream]

Ilia Adamant Hark I know what it refers to. What is your point?

[@kora4185]

Is cool but I find scary as heck. I actually do believe robots can feel what people feel. After all, we think, we exist. If the robot thinks like us, "he" thinks he feels, therefore he DOES feel (a VERY advantage one ofcourse), so it seems a little... cruel? Even thou it sounds cool I hope they never do something crazy like this (if it is possible at all) cus imagine being a robot and people be like: "is a robot, a machine, no soul, no real feelings,, is just programmed to think it have" '.' soooooo cold!!! :

[@mariosmpazinasmc685]

if we can remove and a man's ''soul'' and put it into a computer, then we can make robots with soul *cough cough GLaDOS cough cough*

[@mosteanuv]

I can already see myself slaving away for these robots in 20 years !

[@xlilone21]

I like the last robot most. It was so cute!!

[@TheAnti1337]

this guy is a genius.. I could never imagine this as reality. blown away.

[@amitghule418]

at some point into watching this, i felt like the distinguinshing lines in art and robotics, humanity and gestures are really hazy now. liked this one. :)

[@numuves]

This dude's hair is awesome. Also, he's hilarious.

[@MrToxicB1izzard]

I don't really care about robots interacting with me like humans. I don't enjoy being around humans that much. I would rather have robots that complete their task efficiently and quickly and if they are cheaper just for not having "soul" then all the better for me.

[@prankfiles]

Always enjoyed learning about them. I have a prank done by a robot.

[@Wandrr]

The dilemma of being human and not wanting to be around humans is that since you can't escape being around yourself, you wind up spending most of your time either trying to get away from yourself or else trying to reject your own humanity. These are futile actions, obviously, but that won't stop you from trying. The disadvantage of being around robots all the time is that you tend to think more and more like robots - or computers, or machines. If robots were made so as to act more and more like humans, then in our interaction with them, we would be less and less likely to become like machines and more and more likely to be like ourselves.

[@MrToxicB1izzard]

***** I would rather be a machine than a human. I'm disgusted by people.

[@MBrosFitness]

The beginning of the end is pretty cool.

[@Lifted420haze]

I'd love to own the one at the end. Perfect example of hard work, dedication and taking a chance down an unexplored path. Well done.

[@latiniux]

Wow! This approach is really out-of-the-box

[@andres65080]

What a time to be alive. Things are strange now, and they will only get stranger. That robot you saw at 16:00. Guarantee within the next 20-30 years you will see that on the store shelves everywhere.

[@thschnick]

We are getting closer and closer to creating cylons

[@mimimarcus]

16:00 Eek, so adorable!!! I WANT IT NOW! Also, make it answer my questions or converse with me like Siri on iPhone and respond to my movements like my pet would.

[@AlexandraGoddard]

Mental high five!

[@Finimabob]

I want that iPod doc

[@wulf8121]

This is how you start getting wide spread adoption of robots! Very cool!

[@AveSinistra]

12:00 glados in the makeing

[@maryclaudiapitman]

I want one of those dancing speaker docks

[@markrogers4432]

music and theater, bud. golden

[@morfengineering]

That was quite inspiring, didn't realize how much of a difference is made when you include some "acting" into the robot motion. Will take that into account when design one.

[@shashankkothari8066]

The robot isn't conscious but looks like it's enjoying the music.

[@aprillawyer8084]

When the light turned right I was thinking "it's downloading the terminator movie isn't it?"

[@Tetrodioxide]

This works says a hell of a lot more about humans than about the improvement of robots.

[@osoresmatuc]

This is amazing. Robots with souls!

[@Thruster86]

I want the dancing speaker robot , btw what was the song that he was playing when he showed it?

[@Roundyyy]

I'm glad that someone is putting effort into this field. Making things meaningful and making a difference in people's life :)

[@HPMvdBerg]

Great! Very good work over the years I would say.

[@blerst7066]

Robots interacting with humans... that's so cool.

[@adrianaarmstrong2793]

Studying Animation myself. Good use of the Curves Principle!

[@JollyJoel]

OMG IT'S GLaDOS !!

[@LuficariusRatspeed]

Aperture Science needs to hire this guy.

[@Tikibird79]

What these guys really need to make is a robot that can deliver legitimate sarcastic remarks.

[@NoogahOogah]

The robots are still doing only exactly as they are told.

[@ejetzer]

This is fantastic!

[@Mod_max-imus]

This guy seems so real to me !

[@useraccount6157]

In the near future, people will not have actual friends. You buy them.

[@CoryWillow]

lol already exists its called sororities and fraternities!!!

[@Prixylees]

omg don't say that what are u saying god doesn't exist!

[@CoryWillow]

what are you talking about???

[@matchasnowball7863]

One step closer to having robot masters!

[@bareakon]

I need to jam with that robot... And I need that speaker dock

[@aureyniel]

TERMINATOR: THE BEGINNING

[@Horrichumor]

Changing the world he is definitely some one to watch for years 2 come

[@alexandre3989]

This would look great just sitting around in the desk while you listen to music.

[@CaptainJackMorenzo]

I want an emoting lamp now.

[@luisdanielmesa]

dancing phone dock robot... take my money... now... shut up and just take it...

[@CrimsonCye]

His accent is perfect

[@str8gooods]

I love lamp

[@foryouwillneverknow]

Where is Arnold Swartzinager when we need him? before its too late!

[@KemaTheAtheist]

12:15 GLADoS He'll kill us all!

[@TaroutCommodore]

This is EXACTLY (GLaDos) from the game PORTAL !! If anyone played that before he will recognize it immediately, and I have a strong feeling this guy heard of it too, because Exactly the same thing I can't just ignore that fact! Regardless, Amazing work.

[@Zoza15]

Its perhaps a robot with more self awareness, but not with a soul.. But this is indeed some quality robotics right there :D

[@mykalkelley8315]

It's not an ai, it just a robot arm moving fancy.

[@elliottjoseph7554]

Suprises me how someone can talk about somebody they don't know, don't know how hard they have worked, and don't understand a thing he is talking about. Just because the robot didn't what you want? Be inspired and make it.

[@9Anine9]

This man is a legend.

[@colldrake4209]

I keep watching this and I just keep wondering: Is there anybody home? there is, with out doubt, somebody home, but here is what I wonder: Are they just thinking about what they're programmed with, are they mildly self aware, and if not, when will they be?

[@skater0wns1]

Wow, very intelligent man, I'm impressed.