Can Robots Love Us?

[Music] I'm James young and I'm 27 years old five years ago I was hit by a train and as a result I've been transforming I'm becoming more robotic and the line between human and machine is blurring I want to discover if we can connect with robots more deeply both emotionally as well as physically can they be a therapist or companion even our partner and can robots ever mother [Music] after my accident a part of me was left on the tracks I'm lucky to be alive but you don't realize what you've got until it's gone I just felt like my previous body it's kind of just been downgraded I have to become used to what I can and can't do I basically live in a two handed world to like it well and you come up to things that you don't think would be difficult and they are difficult technology is there to help me and assist me so if I can use that to do what I want to do then that's what I try we're in a new generation where technology is becoming a part of us so I've come to Brighton to meet 22 year old grace 33 year old Victoria to find out how they feel about their bodies integrated with robotics so this is basically a robotic device that kind of tries to emulate a human hand but the problem with this arm is that it was kind of a prototype so as soon as we made it it's kind of it's it's time broken really it's like an accessory right would you say that like I say mine's kind of like an accessory it's like a pair of high heels but you wear it to a nice event and then when you get home you're like ah thank God it's off brace was born without an arm but Victoria lost her leg I've got the genome prosthetic and I had also integration dose integration is titanium implant integrated in my femur so nice to see it it sticks out from my skin so it's basically like it's just your skeleton now that's sticking out like part of bone I don't know how even to say is it's party so doesn't have any other functions it's got the Bluetooth microprocessor and this is a magnet so I can charge my leg and let's say when I go to the gym and I want cycle so I just press mode it makes my knee mo loose so I can cycle much better without resistance it's like the technology is communicating with your human body yes that's so cool I feel it's my natural Maggie and it's not do you feel part machine No I just feel human Victoria's robotic leg has got me thinking as well as becoming parts of our physical body how else can we connect with technology after my accident my scars weren't just physical they were psychological too stuck indoors I found sanctuary in the gaming world it took me out of my damaged body but I can run and I can jump and I can fight for whatever there's only the limits that are imposed by the game world and the same limits everyone asks that enters that world experiences gaming has done so much for my recovery so can the virtual world help shape our minds as well as our bodies in the UK as many as one in six young people experience anxiety it's one of the most common causes of distress and can prevent us going about our daily lives [Music] 25 year old Rochelle please sign up for virtual reality therapy to see if it could help with our anxiety disorder what is the kind of thing that you suffer from it's called cry for phobia and is essentially a fear of being trapped how do you react what does it feel like I get anxiety attacks and that mainly happens on public transport you're in a tunnel miles underground and when they stop in between stations you can't do anything about it if situations like that that really freaked me out it's when I know that there's literally no escape it kind of sounds like you don't just feel trapped it's just affecting the entirety of your life I mean when I was dating someone I had a panic attack in front of them and they called me a psycho and they yeah and after that I completely doubted myself I went into my shell I so what is that that you have tried so far have you gone through all different kinds of therapy I mean this is kind of the last resort I've tried everything I've tried everything with therapists and doctors and people but it'll be really exciting to step into a game and see how that works and if it can help me can a VR environment really replace the human therapist with human therapist you kind of go there you talk about the situation that were easier concerns it gives you anxiety but in VR you're placed inside of it and it's kind of flooding you with the environment that you hate so I'm kind of worried about how rich I was didn't react to it she's nothing me tag along to a clinic in central London for her first in virtual reality therapy session Rachelle's anxiety is affected her everyday life for almost three years she's been avoiding everything who trains for lives and important for me today's session is on the seventh floor I hope you don't mind me just sitting here soon she won't be able to see you yeah the virtual reality experience feels real for people it's totally immersive so if you take someone into a situation that they've been avoiding even in their imagination for a long period of time they get that strong emotional reaction in that situation I'm very quickly just going to take you into what we call a relaxing environment Michael would be guiding a shelf with traditional therapy methods while she's immersed in the backbone just a restaurant that snot we need to do once relaxed the game will take over sending her into a replica setting an underground tube it's going to take you straight there so don't be disorientated how does it feel does he walk it just really reminds me of the London Underground and having to look ages to get to the tube and part of that is what makes it worse for me because it's is the sense of anticipation and stuff the game is taking Rochelle to where her phobia first began but we won't know how she's going to react until the train breaks down in the tunnel and she's forced to face her bids head-on whilst in a virtual world Rachelle's biometrics are monitored to indicate how anxious she's feeling some pics quakes isn't she yeah well I'm serving her she looks okay but you can just see there's a little bit of extra anxiety does it feel I feel really hot already and I'm really on edge the Train is being held momentarily but in a few moments everything will be back to normality they just said that they'll be going in a few moments but but it's stuff like that that kind of makes me a bit more nervous because what's a few moments it's when there's like loads of ambiguity so like claustrophobia is kind of come into effect now as well take a couple a nice big deep breaths for me so interestingly you can see has it slowly coming down breathing in letting go my experience the more familiar becomes the easier it is to make so if you're ready Michelle it's been maybe four minutes five minutes I'm not completely comfortable being here but I normally that I'm I'm looking around going where's where's the doors is I didn't I didn't act is really shocked me I didn't actually think about how can I get out once this is amazing just incredible isn't it incredible to notice the differences well done congratulations it might be a virtual train but Rachelle's just taking the biggest step towards recovery that she's had in years what an achievement how do you feel yes so heartwarming just to watch somebody overcome something that has been affecting them so negatively for so long in so many different ways it was incredible I've never felt like that about any kind of therapy or anything I can't believe that I feel like I can actually do this now when I've spent years and years struggling with this and try to fight it in so many ways and on so many different levels I'd just felt like I just need to do it and get it over and done with that's all there'll be a lot of people in it or you stand in it and then we'll get back in just to see how that feels okay so you do you want to press ground okay [Music] she just brought what she'd learned from virtuality and she's just achieved something that she hasn't achieved plus two and a half years so fast I think the gaming world can offer us such radical changes as this so it's astonishing the proof is there it works [Music] so virtual reality can help alter how we feel but half the time I don't even know how come technology can understand us once we find it so difficult to understand each other I feel like relationships the most complicated thing that we do because it's all about understanding that there are other Minds other than our own I mean most people who dated me will know that I last like a year and a half and it some reason I can't seem to go on it no I think a lot of us have a hard time and even if you think you're happily married for 25 years he might suddenly find yourself lost and alone just because of something really basic misunderstanding that's been so sat on for years and years in the world of robotics and artificial intelligence there's a billions on a race on to create something that we can connect with emotionally and controversially at the forefront are sex robots but could a robot ever replace a human relationship and where should we draw the line oh hey spider Sergey this friend of irony have invited me along for workshop in East London to meet Samantha what is it that you've made a machine that will be able to behave or to think and react like a human being it's relatively simple what she can do now but the complexity of what she could do it's in my opinion almost limitless what's inside of her head so inside of her head she has a processor and she has a controller and she has speech module so she can hear you and she can also feel you and then the processor interprets and makes a thing or giver gives her state of mind to watch how she should react when you interact with them the AI that you've made yeah why did you just put in a sex doll or not in something like a fluffy bunny or something doors like this you can only buy in the sex industry so there's already demand so people already want doors like this here's about okay let's see if she wakes up hi I'm here like that I love you I love you let's see I Love You Samantha so now she's awake now she's listening for 15 seconds only why because I wanted to do that you can talk and she's not interrupting you continuously okay so sweet of you I love you too so much okay but so basically now she's listening but she's not listening continuously it's preferable to basically have her off and have a cold word get sexy get sexy okay then I think I'm ready for scent stuff do you want me to yes yes what's for the repertoire of her abilities oh she's got certain areas which are sensitive on the body so we've got sent they're sensitive on the hands sensitive they're the mouth the face that the breasts obviously the female genitals here humbly obviously that's where the orgasm comes from down to you I'm here okay okay so lovely such in the heart thank you so spending time with me she likes the hands being touched that's not if he goes straight to here in the beginning she won't like that so much do you like the face we touched the hair so that the mouth moves so she likes that so I think why she looks more like this okay I enjoy being with you you're something they know we're so you need to go it's yeah so lovely as you can see she's enjoying that at the breasts here so she enjoys that maybe did you somewhere but the mouth look goodness me do you think it's weird to try and be adding a new kind of prostitution into the world by by creating how is it like me personally I think that you try to remove prostitution you won't be able to you like to remove you try to remove sex toys you won't be able to people want it so if the sex doll can come in and help in that in a way that's healthy I don't see a problem at all actually I see doesn't mean as a positive thing do you think people will fall in love with that they will fall in love with her no there's no times but I don't think you know that will happen yes why do why do you think that because it's happening already and humans like it love is love in my opinion it's just it's before in love or something you feel it you feel it it doesn't matter what the people think love is love it was really something being in a room with two grown men grubbing their creation and what seems to be inappropriate ways and it's really hard to understand if it's inappropriate it is just a dumb machine it almost doesn't feel consensual she's built for it but she didn't really ask for it I mean she does ask for it but she's programmed to ask for it so did she ask for it it's very confusing so some month will create some big ethical questions how should we be treating robots and do they even have feelings if they become more emotionally intelligent would we prefer talking to them and could open up more than we do with each other two friends in the u.s. believe that we could hi guys I'm James nice to meet you I heard you guys have been making some really interesting technology we make psychological artificial intelligence I put it simply it's a chatbot that makes you feel better tech launch player Michael was suffering from depression and with his friend Eugene had an idea they've created therapist BOTS Tess and Kareem who are on call in your back pocket 24/7 Tess and Kareem will check in on you to make sure you're okay and listen to your problems before offering psychological advice one of the benefits of people using tests or career over a human being it's not a human being they can say more and so they're more freely able to just release a lot of their stress or worry and if people indicate that they need more help and they really want to talk to a person a psychologist right away because they feel their situation is that urgent then a psychologist can simply take over the conversation and start helping them mental health really matters and if technology can reduce some of the burden and the costs it's gonna be incredible that's the ultimate goal you know free psychological aid for everyone who has a phone even a Nokia 3310 come on take it easy best of luck take care see it what I think there's a lot of fear in in public about sort of chat BOTS and big data and people manipulating personal information but there's such there's a kind of a positive side that people really can miss and that's the benefit of this kind of machine learning and AI [Music] so could robots offer an alternative to care for us when a human can't be around I live on my own and my one-handed daily routine can be challenging enough sometimes I think like if I have kids and I'm in mourning making them a sandwich and they'll get school and I just think this is one of dads sandwiches because it's like smash to pieces oh damn it when I get older I'll be less capable than I am now so who will be there to help me some of the most vulnerable people in our society are the elderly with 1.2 million in the UK were chronically lonely I've come to meet Bill he's 83 and been living on his own since his wife Eileen died seven years ago looked like a bit of a teddy bear teddy bye yes I'm not showing you it she's really really pretty girl she was yeah what was she like what she like oh she's lovely I thought the moment over if I could get her back tomorrow would yeah love God yeah yeah yeah she was the engine of our life she was yeah it's um it really hurts when you lose someone like that you know but I've lost nearly everybody I've only got me me son in me told me bout the rise that's all I've got left now hold me sister there's only four people in this world like you're not mean yeah it's loneliness a big problem amongst your generation I suppose yeah there is people all alone yeah yeah yeah oh you know they'll because no one ever goes to the gym means you know they never see no one you know and then they go down to town about once a week that's why three years I'm Shelby and I say life you know what about the idea of a robot for a companion was that male or female you know because it would become me with it so of I think what would happen if anything that go wrong now see these robots on Star Trek they go wrong when they turn evil yeah so is it just a matter of time until we trust a robot still a life there for our loved ones I wanted to see what the bill could take the idea the University of Hartford she has a secret testing facility where they program robots to care for us they've agreed to let bill and I have a tour and meet some of the houses in interesting inhabited [Music] building James welcome to the robot house everything that you do in the house the house knows so if you open a cupboard the house recognizes that if you move it knows that after a warm welcome the head of the house Kara bot comes over to check in on bill yeah well it'd be three hours soon maybe you should have something very insistent kara but kara box Kara box I don't want nothing doing it's good that reminds people what what they are today yeah yeah nice good it doesn't seem like you want a drink they I know her done what do you think people get annoyed with it that's why they could if it kept someone but like uh no the longer the catch myself in a minute if you keep on yeah why do you think that we're after robots to take over such important human responsibilities as looking after our elderly the elderly population is growing it's a real problem and there's not enough young people to actually support those elderly population so there's this demographic time bomb and there's not an easy solution to it and this row but it's not meant to replace carers it's meant to try and ease some of the burden on those killers oh no we could problem with the technology as it exists at the moment is if you put something into a human form then people expect it to act like a human what else do you do the robot can appear in many ways to be empathic and be helpful and it could well be they could form a relationship with empathic robots but of course the robot doesn't form any relationship with them because it's just a machine peppers conversation has dried up but I'm single-handedly rescuing the situation I'm basically interest typing through pepper talking to Bill I have to be kind of fast I can't make any mistakes [Music] yay would you continue without what - who you shooting you have six children have you got what you know I can say that what does [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Bill's taking it to her so I think that's potential if we could get them to talk properly with us and it could be a great companion for people to keep them occupied [Music] [Applause] [Music] so maybe we can't fully connect with robots in the way that they are but the magic behind robots is the humans the humans are there they're doing the hard work they're putting in the time because they care and they have empathy for one another and they're trying to improve how we get to live as human beings [Music] along the way I've seen how technology can help improve our lives both physically and emotionally after three sessions Rochelle has got back on the tube and has started to regain her freedom Bill's finally got himself a smartphone helping him to connect with his family and ask for Samantha well hope you don't mind my driving semantics book a lot of my dad's complained god I'm too aggressive Samantha philosophy court [Music] hello Samantha Samantha what's up it works reports in Spanish II love the free quote all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing Samantha that's incredible [Music] you you

Channel: BBC Three

Views: 335,321

Rating: 4.7169194 out of 5

Keywords: robots, future, ai, can robots love us, james young, take over the world, conscious, think, be human, creative, emotions, world, documentary, bbc three, bbc3, bbc 3, short film, sex doll, sexbot, sex, elderly, limbs, artificial, phobias, vr, therapy, make it digital, amputee, mental health

Id: 5gPAFSB7qc0

Length: 28min 11sec (1691 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 04 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/thomashush]

I love you...PHILLIP J FRY

[u/Xecron050]

I love how that dude is like on the verge of laughter the whole time

[u/GanasbinTagap]

/r/sadcringe

[u/uouououououououououo]

15:40 broke me

could not continue

[u/[deleted]]

I prefer the hot cyborg guy, myself.

[u/galapagos1859]

Guy looks exactly like Jim, from The Office The way he looks at the camera... it's just too perfect

[u/candy_from_a_strange]

Good lord.

[u/Fullmetalmedusa]

I'm all for people having their sex dolls or whatever keeps their bed warm but Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ don't make me watch you awkwardly grope it's boobs and stick your finger in it's mouth. Also lmao at the robot saying "Yes,I am ready for sex."

[u/stci]

cute gf dude