Multiple-Robot Mediated Discussion System to support group discussion ∗

S. Ikari, Y. Yoshikawa and H. Ishiguro, "Multiple-Robot Mediated Discussion System to support group discussion *," 2020 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Naples, Italy, 2020, pp. 495-502, doi: 10.1109/RO-MAN47096.2020.9223444.The 29th IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication [31 AUG - 04 SEPT, 2020

British Children’s and Adults’ Perceptions of Robots

Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) systems are quickly becoming a familiar part of different aspects of everyday life. We know very little about how children and adults perceive the abilities of different robots and whether these ascriptions are associated with a willingness to interact with a robot. In the current study, we asked British children aged 4-to-13 years and British adults to complete an online experiment. Participants were asked to describe what a robot looks like, give their preference for various types of robots (a social robot, a machine-like robot and a human-like robot), and whether they were willing to engage in different activities with the different robots. Results showed that younger children (4 to 8 years old) are more willing to engage with robots compared to older children (9 to 13 years) and adults. Specifically, younger children were more likely to see robots as kind compared to older children and adults. Younger children were also more likely to rate the social robot as helpful compared to older children and adults. This is also the first study to examine preferences for robots engaging in religious activities and results show that British adults prefer humans over robots to pray for them but such biases may not be generally applicable to children. These results provide current insight into how children and adults in the United Kingdom accept the presence and function of robots

Beta diversity dynamics in East Asian angiosperm woody plants: taxonomic turnover in relation to temperature gradients during the Cenozoic

Information on the paleo-beta diversity of fossil assemblages and its patterning in different geological time intervals helps us to better understand the community level response of biodiversity patterns to current global warming. We focused on the impact of paleoclimate changes on large-scale taxonomic sorting related to geography; specifically, how cooler and warmer climatic conditions affect the distance-dependency of beta diversity. Using a dataset of Cenozoic fossil assemblages of angiosperm woody plants (7,468 data points; 310 genera in 95 families) in the Japanese portion of the East Asian archipelago (except Ryukyu islands), we modeled the distance-dependency of genus turnover (pairwise compositional dissimilarity) through the Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene, Last Glacial Period, Holocene, and present day. The genus turnover of angiosperm woody plants was significantly correlated with geographical and climatic distance only in the Last Glacial Period, Holocene, and present day. During the Oligocene to Pliocene, the warm periods, genus turnover was mostly independent of geographical distance. Spatial/climatic distance-dependent turnover under colder environments involved a climate-induced sorting process to spatially diversify woody-plant assemblages across the archipelago. Moreover, the predominance of distant-independent turnover suggested the effect of dispersal release under warmer, stable climates. Our findings suggest that future tropicalization in temperate habitats could promote geographical homogenization of biodiversity patterns

Religiosity differently influences moral attitude for robots in the US and Japan

Increasing evidences report that people show moral concern for robots, non-human entities. People’s attitudes toward new automation technologies such as robots and AI are influenced by their social backgrounds, including religion. Religion-related values, animism and anthropocentrism, has been recognised to be influential on preference/familiarity toward robots. However, how they affect moral care for robots under different religious tradition has not been studied. Here, we empirically examined how moral care for robots is influenced by religiosity and religion-related values with US and Japanese samples, cultures that are Abrahamic and Shinto-Buddhist traditions respectively (N = 3781). Overall, moral care for robots was higher in Japan than in the US, matching descriptions by previous authors. Moral care for robots was negatively associated with religiosity in the US and positively in Japan, although its variance was better explained by religion-related value than by religiosity itself. Further, moral care for robots had a negative association with anthropocentrism in the US, while, in Japan, it had a positive association with animism. The finding demonstrates how religious tradition could influence moral attitudes for robots, and might suggest the realm of moral consideration could be shaped by cultural traditions