Silicon.com – Robots – the more human the better, study finds

“Sometimes people are afraid of robots,” says researcher. Funny that.

Imitation is not just the best form of flattery – it’s also good interface design. A study shows that talking computers that copy a user’s unique vocal inflections seem easier to use.

The researchers think that a key component of machine likeability is the ability to mirror the ‘music’ – the rhythm and pitch – of a user’s speech.

This finding stemmed from an experiment conducted by Japanese researcher Noriko Suzuki’s team at ATR Media Information Science Laboratories in Kyoto, reported scientific journal New Scientist.

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