Report Humans Appear Programmed to Obey Robots, Studies Suggest

[tom_mai78101]

Two 8-foot robots recently began directing traffic in the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kinshasa. The automatons are little more than traffic lights dressed up as campy 1960s robots—and yet, drivers obey them more readily than the humans previously directing traffic there.

Maybe it’s because the robots are bigger than the average traffic cop. Maybe it’s their fearsome metallic glint. Or maybe it’s because, in addition to their LED signals and stilted hand waving, they have multiple cameras recording ne’er-do-wells.

“If a driver says that it is not going to respect the robot because it’s just a machine the robot is going to take that, and there will be a ticket for him,” Isaie Therese, the engineer behind the bots, told CCTV Africa.

The Congolese bots provide a fascinating glimpse into human-robot interaction. It’s a rather surprising observation that humans so readily obey robots, even very simple ones, in certain situations. But the observation isn’t merely anecdotal—there’s research on the subject. (Hat tip to Motherboard for pointing out a fascinating study for us robot geeks.)

Humans Appear Programmed to Obey Robots, Studies Suggest

Robot fear outsells robot awe and wonder every time. It’s very nearly axiomatic. But if you need proof, go to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where two 8-foot robots are directing traffic. The automatons are little more than traffic lights dressed up as campy 1960s robots—and yet everyone...

singularityhub.com

 

[Slapshot136]

somehow I think it's more the cameras than the robots - if the cops had cameras (and perhaps a small platform to be at the same height) and wrote tickets, then I would expect they would be at the same level of obedience

 

[tom_mai78101]

It's a macro-scaled version of a social experiment involving simple rules:

• If a robot signals a red light, and you press a button, nothing will happen.
• If a robot signals a blue light, and you press a button, you will get punished.
• If a robot signals a red light, but you don't press anything, you will get punished.

Therefore, once this goes about 10 sessions or so, you will see that humans will obey the robot 100% of the time.

 

[FireCat]

Nuts!

 

[Slapshot136]

Therefore, once this goes about 10 sessions or so, you will see that humans will obey the robot 100% of the time.

and while I don't doubt that, I don't think that obeying a human would be less likely

 

[The Helper]

All Hail our Robot Overlords!