New algorithm to teach robots human etiquettes Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis

Scientists have developed a new machine-learning algorithm to help robots display appropriate social behaviour in interactions with humans. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are making virtual and robotic assistants increasingly capable in performing complex tasks, researchers said. For these "smart" machines to be considered safe and trustworthy collaborators with human partners, however, robots must be able to quickly assess a given situation and apply human social norms, they said. Now, researchers at Brown University and Tufts University in the US have created a cognitive-computational model of human norms in a representation that can be coded into machines. They developed a machine-learning algorithm that allows machines to learn norms in unfamiliar situations drawing on human data.