Should Robots Have a Face? | Technology - The New York Times

As automation comes to retail industries, companies are giving machines more humanlike features in order to make them liked, not feared by Michael Corkery, reporter at The New York Times.

Employees powering up Marty, a robot that detects supermarket spills, at the Badger factory in Memphis.
Photo: Whitten Sabbatini for The New York Times

When Tina Sorg first saw the robot rolling through her Giant supermarket in Harrisburg, Pa., she said to herself, “That thing is a little weird.”

Programmed to detect spills and debris in the aisles, the robot looked like an inkjet printer with a long neck.

“It needed personality,” said Ms. Sorg, 55, who manages the store’s beer and wine department.

So, during one overnight shift, she went out to a nearby arts and craft store, brought back a large pair of googly eyes and, when no one was looking, affixed them on the top of the robot...

This robot was designed without a face, because its developers did not want customers to think they could interact with the device. But many of the robots have names, given to them by store staff. Some also wear name badges.

“We want the associates to have an attachment to it and want to protect it,” said Sarjoun Skaff, a co-founder and the chief technology officer at Bossa Nova. Walmart said it planned to deploy the robots in 1,000 stores by the end of the year, up from about 350.

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Source: The New York Times