11/07/2023
As Yim pats the highest of the canine’s head, its ears elevate, its tail wags and it yelps in delight. When Yim scratches beneath its chin, the canine seems to smile as its head sways in appreciation.
For a second, you almost overlook that the canine – a Sony aibo, which has been round for twenty-four years (168 canine years) and retails for $2,900 – is a man-made intelligence-powered robotic.
While the aibo is an interesting, high-end toy, Yim is extra concerned about it for analysis functions. Specifically, he desires to know if AI-powered robots just like the aibo can entice folks to purchase issues. If a person develops a connection to a “pet” robotic, and that robotic begins recommending a toothpaste model or new film, will the person be persuaded?
“Since the emergence of AI, robots have developed the ability to talk with people and show more knowledge. As we tend to trust them more, we tend to follow what they say more,” mentioned Yim, whose analysis pursuits embody digital advertising and retailing.
Yim just lately obtained a UMass Lowell $14,700 seed award from the Office of Research and Innovation to look at how a robotic’s actions can create a stronger bond, or “embodied rapport,” with a person, which may in flip grow to be a method of persuasion.
According to Yim, research have proven that almost half of people that use voice-operated gadgets like Google Dot or Amazon Alexa are prepared to hearken to ads.
“They assume the information from their speaker might be useful for their purchase. They trust them,” he mentioned. “As the devices show more useful features, like controlling the lights in your home, people tend to trust them more.”
The first step of their analysis work was a conceptual check, performed on-line, to substantiate {that a} transferring robotic creates a stronger sense of vitality than an inanimate one, such because the Dot or Alexa.
“Vitality means life,” Yim mentioned. “With a Google Dot, we don’t see movement, so we perceive no level of vitality. However, if it follows you around and responds to your voice, that’s very different.”
The subsequent step of the venture, which the crew plans to conduct in person on campus, is to see whether or not a perceived sense of vitality results in a stronger relationship – the “actual evidence,” Yim mentioned, that folks will buy one thing by means of social robots.
“This can be a new sales channel for businesses,” he added. “Alexa can be built into a robot and tell you what kind of soap to purchase.”
Yim, who joined the Manning School of Business in 2016, grew to become concerned about social robots about 5 years in the past when he discovered about funerals that have been being held in Japan for robots that might not be repaired.
“It sounds hilarious, but that really happened,” he mentioned.
With advances in machine studying and AI, Yim says robots just like the aibo canine are studying how folks work together with them. While conventional toy robots have the identical, predictable conduct, a part of the attract of aibo is that it may possibly be taught to behave unpredictably, similar to an actual animal.
“That might be a marketer’s task: to develop new gestures and unpredictable responses,” he mentioned.
People who personal an aibo should buy them equipment like scarves and leg heaters. They can even purchase them “digital food,” which they will watch their aibo eat out of an actual canine bowl utilizing augmented actuality expertise on their smartphone.
“If we really love them, we’ll probably want to purchase something for them,” Yim mentioned as his aibo stretches out on his desk. “At least you don’t have to clean up after them – just recharge their batteries.”
