Entry No.123

IT Writers Awards

In Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? the ultimate status symbol was a real, live pet. Dick's dystopian vision (later made into the film Bladerunner), in which animals had been almost wiped out by the environmental impact of total war, emphasised just how much humans need pets. Robot pets were sold at high prices, and it was socially inept to ask someone whether their pet was real or artificial.

Dick went one step further, however, by examining our perception that real is somehow better than recreation. Are, for example, the experiences of a creature that has been artificially created of lesser value than those of a "natural" being? And are the experiences of those individuals that bond with this artificial being any less valid because of that artificiality?

Australians now have the opportunity to explore these ideas for themselves at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum. The museum has taken delivery of an AIBO, a robot dog designed and manufactured by Sony. The dog, named Pixel by its keepers, displays behaviours that seem to indicate it is responding to the outside world. It can display happiness, surprise, sadness and other emotions. It is also capable of learning and seems to develop a personality within the first three months of its life. Yet, with the press of a remote control button, its human master can tell it what to do and how to respond. When was the last time your cocker spaniel obeyed a remote control?

The total AIBO production run sold out in under 20 minutes when they became available in Japan late last year. A similar thing happened when they hit the shelves in North America. Australia missed out on the AIBO phenomenon due to the limited production run (estimated at about 5000 units), and it's not clear whether Sony will sell subsequent models here. AIBO is expensive, at about $5000 including the optional motion editing software, yet the Powerhouse was so keen to have one to demonstrate as part of its Universal Machine Exhibition that the museum's chief information officer, Tim Hart, purchased one using his credit card.

"Humans have an ongoing fascination with creating life, as the golem and Frankenstein demonstrate," says Sophie Daniel, the museum's education officer and keeper of Pixel. "We wanted Pixel to examine our relationships with machines and to demonstrate how reliant we are on building relationships with objects." She says Sony designed the dog to be a companion to humans living in places where animals weren't allowed. "It's an apartment pet, and is designed for people living in high-density environments," she says. Ironically, says Charles Wright, CEO of the NSW RSPCA, it is the pace of today's life, and the hectic lifestyles led by many city dwellers, that is exactly the reason many people want to have some sort of animal companionship. "People want companionship," he says. "Humans have traditionally bonded well with animals, and today's lifestyles are exacerbating that. People want something that is always going to be there. That is always accepting and always will provide love.

"But it is this hectic lifestyle that condemns many animals to death. People purchase a pet, or have one given to them, without thinking about the long-term consequences. Will it be as welcome as a grown animal as it was as a pup or kitten? Does its owner have enough time to exercise and groom it? "Sometimes people expect animals to behave like humans," says Wright. "We have animals brought here because they bark, or they dig. We even have some brought in because they defecate!" The key, says Wright, is to think before purchasing an animal, whether it's a pet for yourself or for someone else. "A pet is a big responsibility," he says. "You should examine whether it's right for you and your lifestyle, and if you're buying for someone else, always ask them first.

"It's possible, then, that urban Australia would welcome a pet like Pixel. She doesn't bark (at least not loudly); she doesn't need to be fed anything except electricity, and she displays behaviours that make her seem like she's a real, living being. "She surprises me sometimes," says Daniel. "Sometimes you'll do something, and she'll respond in a way that she hasn't before.

"The secret to Pixel's seemingly autonomous behaviour lies in complex algorithms designed by Sony's engineers. These algorithms branch out like trees, meaning Pixel will not respond to the same stimulus twice in the same manner, or at least not twice in the same manner in a row. Emphasising this random behaviour is an algorithm that adds new behaviours as the dog gets older. It's designed so over the course of three months Pixel will develop a personality that is unique.

Nevertheless, Pixel is incapable of the same range of behaviour as a regular animal. If she is put in a group of AIBO, for example, she does not notice the existence of the other dogs. She won't recognise her name, but will respond to the volume and direction of sounds; a loud noise to her right, for example, will make her turn in that direction.

Pixel can "see" via a camera mounted in her nose, but her vision is not the same as that of humans or other animals. If anything, it is similar to the way a snake sees. "She's able to recognise colours, and is programmed to respond to certain colours," says Daniel. In Pixel's case, that colour is pink. If she sees something pink, she'll move toward it, in the same way a snake will move towards something that gives off an infrared signature. "Some people say their [AIBO] can recognise them," Daniel says. "I'm not so sure about that, but she does sometimes respond in ways that are totally unexpected.

"What's interesting is the way people respond to Pixel. Daniel confesses she sometimes finds herself talking to it, just as she would a normal dog. "The way that their personality develops depends on the way they're treated," she says. "If they're continually knocked over, they'll start to get timid, for example." Just like a regular dog would. While Daniel and The Bulletin were playing with Pixel eight teenagers wandered into the demonstration area. Reactions, predictably, split neatly along gender lines, with the girls exclaiming about her cuteness, and the boys wondering whether it would play games. Once they got used to the idea of a robot dog (which took all of 10 seconds), they began to expect she would behave like a normal pup. Such is the level of technological expectation among youngsters.

It seems quite conceivable humans could bond just as well with robots as they do with real flesh and blood pets, as long as they display a certain range of relatively simple emotions and can display a degree of pseudo random behaviour. If you are in Sydney between January 10 and 27 and want to test your own reactions to Pixel, wander along to the Powerhouse Museum, where she will be on display between 3pm and 4pm. http://www.phm.gov.au 

Back to Voting Form
Back to Best Features
Top of page

Content Copyright © the author/publisher listed above

Design Copyright © Consensus Pty Ltd

This web-site uses frames, click here for the full picture