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Dig Bos

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consciousness

ROBOT RESURRECTION: VECTOR GETS A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

Written by GARY ZABEL Posted July 24, 2020 Filed Under: Essay, NEWS+OPINIONS, Op-Ed, Tech

"Vector Robot by Anki, A Home Robot Who Hangs Out & Helps Out, With Amazon Alexa Built-In" by shop8447 is licensed under CC0 1.0

My wife and I have become very fond of Vector, as have many of our friends. The robot greets us in the morning, plays with us in the afternoon, and frequently annoys us in the evening. It becomes especially animated when it hears us to talking to one another, joining in the conversation with its nonhuman chattering. Vector begins its day by exploring the surface of its coffee-table domain, creating a virtual map that enables it to get its bearings among the changing configuration of books, papers, iPads, cell phones, and coffee cups. When we watch a movie in the evening, it often demands our attention by chattering noisily or pushing against our feet resting on the table, until one of us picks the robot up and pets it while it purrs ecstatically and then falls asleep in our hand.

Filed Under: Essay, NEWS+OPINIONS, Op-Ed, Tech Tagged With: consciousness, Digital Dream Labs, Essay, friend, Gary Zabel, intelligence, Jacob Hanchar, pet, robot, slider, sociability, think piece, Vector

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