A robot fools humans in a new twist on the Turing test

If you ran into a robot in the street, there are a number of crucial giveaways that would help you pick it out from a human crowd -- silicon skin or unblinking eyes, to name a few. Yet, when people cannot see the robots they interact with, this distinction between what is and isn't human becomes much hazier. That's the premise of the Turing test, which helps determine whether or not a robot or A.I. can pass as human. In a new paper, a team of researchers has implemented a variation of this test that looks at behavior variability found in humans and animals to see whether or not mimicking this trait can make robots seem more alive. By introducing variability in reaction time to robots' otherwise rigidly programmed behavior, the team of researchers found that humans can be fooled into believing a robot is flesh and blood.