According to a patent entry, Sony is currently working on one creepy gaming utensil: A robot that watches you play, recognizes your emotions and, if necessary, motivates you to continue playing.
The robot is described as a “joint viewing player”. In other words, a "person" who sits next to you and watches the game. The Emotion recognition should be taken over by a so-called "Feeling Deduction" unit. This can give conclusions about your emotions from your behavior and allows the artificial friend to react accordingly.
The goal is that you play more. The inventors of the patent assume that a player is more willing to play when there is someone who shares and expresses their own emotions.
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However, it is not guaranteed whether the patent will one day become a real product. Companies always work on new ideas and let them protect them. Really Very few are implemented. At the same time, Sony would not be the first company in Japan to try to tackle loneliness with technology.
It would also not be the first robot from Sony to fulfill a purely emotional purpose. The Japanese company published as early as 1999 the mechanical dog AIBO. After its production was stopped in 2006, the project was revived in 2018 with the fourth generation. The latest software update for the four-legged friend was released in November 2019.
![Mathias Dietrich "data-img-format =" 238 "data-img-id =" 6084563 "class =" author "src =" https://4images.cgames.de/images/gamestar/238/mathias-dietrich_6084563.jpg "loading =" lazy]()
Mathias Dietrich
@kawaraban_japanBecause Sony is so international, you can almost forget that the company is originally from Japan. And an invention like this robot makes a lot of sense as a gaming companion. Because what seems to us like a small curiosity in Japan is only an outgrowth of a large social science topic.
The country counts as the loneliest in the world: 15 percent of all residents stated in a survey in 2018 that they had no social contacts outside of their own families. Communication is a whole business area here: Not infrequently, residents visit hostesses or host clubs, where they simply pay for a nice chat.
A robot as a gaming partner for the living room? This fits perfectly into the culture of the country, which tries to combat modern developments such as aging and the like with technology. The only question is whether an appropriate device is a sensible solution, only treats the symptoms or maybe even promotes loneliness.
