Japan’s sympathetic robot: Erica, the laughing robot

Laughter is one of the most important elements of our communication. It differentiates between man and machine. But a Japanese research team eliminates exactly that limit – with an empathetic robot that laughs at the right time.

Koji Inoue has a lot to say. He sat across from a young woman at the table. He said: “I urgently need to talk to you, it’s the Football World Cup now, isn’t it?” “Yes,” the woman replied, raising her eyes in anticipation. “Japan played against Germany,” Inoue continues anxiously. “Now imagine: Japan won!” He’s elated.

In that second, something computer scientist Iono sees as a revolution occurs: the woman laughs and replies, “Wow! That’s cute!” She is a robot, a humanoid robot.

Situational laughter

“Erica” ​​is her name. And recently it can do something other robots can’t: laugh. She does it depending on the situation, that is, only when it makes sense in the conversation. It took the Kyoto University team three years to teach Erika this skill. Humor can be a serious challenge.

Erica could control herself better. “Do you find it difficult to understand human humor?” The question goes directly to the robot. Erica blinked her eyes, gently shaking her head back and forth. “Yes, yes,” she replied, her expression reflecting a serious effort. “What people consider humor varies from person to person.” For Erica, it means decision-making processes in the shortest possible time: “It’s really hard.”

Capture key words using speech recognition

Erika has been wowing audiences in Japan for a long time. In 2015 they were introduced – at that time without laughing efficiency. Speech recognition software allows it to pick up key words in conversations and provide appropriate responses. This works best if your programmers know what the conversation is about in advance. Brilliant, but far from authentic entertainment.

“Laughter is essential to having a warm human conversation,” says Eno. In order to teach Erica this, the assistant professor first had to see through the phenomenon himself. Over 80 students invited a speed date with Erica. The conversations were scanned for when and how the students laughed at Erica. Hundreds of fits of laughter have been categorized.

Three types of laughter

From this, Inoue and his team filtered out three options for Erica: First, to laugh happily at a joke—usually identifiable by the fact that the creator himself laughs the loudest. Second, the alternative for advanced users: “social” laughter. They are constrained sounds that indicate approval or conceal embarrassment. Erica must respond. Third, the silent option, which is always needed when laughter tends to get annoying. So they built a laughter algorithm.

“It was a lot of trial and error work,” Inoue sums up today. Even though Erica looks a lot like a supermodel and her speech sounds like straight out of a tin can, it’s hard to resist the temptation of a conversation with her. “Of course you know in your head that you’re talking to a robot,” Eno admits. “But when you’re laughing, it’s exciting. It’s like talking to someone.”

Laughter is silver – silence is golden

Talking about soccer also shows how sensitive Erica is. She acknowledges Japan’s victory over Germany with a happy laugh. When Inoue, embarrassed, points out that it’s an uncomfortable situation because there are guests from Germany present – Erika only smiles mischievously and ends the conversation with a diplomatic “hm.” Depending on the situation, silence is also golden for a robot.