TED演讲:我们为什么会对机器人有感情(1)(在线收听

 There was a day, about 10 years ago, when I asked a friend to hold a baby dinosaur robot upside down. 大概10年前的一天,我让一个朋友头朝下地握持一个小恐龙机器人。

It was this toy called a Pleo that I had ordered, and I was really excited about it because I've always loved robots. 这个机器人是我订购的一款叫做Pleo的玩具,我对此非常兴奋,因为我一直都很喜欢机器人。
And this one has really cool technical features. 这个机器人有很酷的技术特征。
It had motors and touch sensors and it had an infrared camera. 它有马达和触觉传感器,还有一个红外摄像头。
And one of the things it had was a tilt sensor, so it knew what direction it was facing. 它还有一个部件是倾斜传感器,所以它就会知道自己面对的是什么方向。
And when you held it upside down, it would start to cry. 当你把它倒过来,它会开始哭泣。
And I thought this was super cool, so I was showing it off to my friend, 我觉得这点非常酷,所以我展示给我朋友看,
and I said, "Oh, hold it up by the tail. See what it does." 我说:“抓住尾巴竖起来,看看它会怎样。”
So we're watching the theatrics of this robot struggle and cry out. 于是我们看着这个机器人表演、挣扎和哭泣。
And after a few seconds, it starts to bother me a little, and I said, "OK, that's enough now. Let's put him back down." 几秒钟后,我开始感到有点不安,于是我说,“好了,差不多了,我们把它放回去吧。”
And then I pet the robot to make it stop crying. 然后我抚摸着机器人,让它停止哭泣。
And that was kind of a weird experience for me. 这对我来说是一种奇怪的经历。
For one thing, I wasn't the most maternal person at the time. 首先,我那时还不是个很有母性的人。
Although since then I've become a mother, nine months ago, 尽管在那之前的9个月,我已经成为了一个母亲,
and I've learned that babies also squirm when you hold them upside down. 我还知道,当你让婴儿 大头朝下时,婴儿也会抽泣。
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/TEDyj/kjp/459114.html