Guy Hoffman

With technology shifting at an ever-rising pace, it is increasingly hard to design products and services that will stand the test of time – or even be relevant when their development cycle is over. Throughout his career, Guy Hoffman has been designing for a future that was still years away. For more than ten years, since graduating from the MIT Media Lab, he has been predicting our technological future. In 2008, he developed location-based mobile podcasts; in 2009, he developed one of the first Android Apps which climbed to the #1 spot in its category; in 2011, he built a prototype for an Augmented Reality game; and he has designed Social Robots for smart-homes and other applications ever since. In this presentation, he discusses the lessons learned and the methods and techniques used to predict the future and to design for it.

Traditional robots analyze their environment, then plan and execute a response. This results in behaviors that are predictable and calculated, but also difficult to understand, inflexible – and robotic. That’s a problem Guy Hoffman is solving. As robots are poised to become a major part of our lives, engineers are already designing robotic assistants for offices, nursing homes, hospitals and classrooms – all places where they need to get close and personal with humans. Hoffman explains why we prefer robots that are less robotic and more improvisational, and what we can learn from the arts to advance AI. He also discusses how animation, acting lessons and jazz led to a new approach to AI, involving robots that “think with their bodies,” plan less, improvise more and take chances – even at the risk of making mistakes. He delves deeper into robotic body language and how it will shape the future of robotics, helping them communicate more effectively with humans and giving us a better user experience in our offices, hospitals, homes and schools.

Some of the biggest questions related to artificial intelligence and robotics are not just about technology, but about how they affect our lives, our society and our culture. Therefore, it’s time for society at large to get involved in the AI discussion, says Guy Hoffman. How much control are we willing to give up? How much decision-making should a robot or an AI algorithm be allowed to do? Hoffman delves into these questions and explains why the issue of control between man and machine is not a binary one, but a gradient between having full control and none at all. This presentation helps AI developers, organizations and consumers alike better understand this crucial question, and what framework they should employ to decide how much independence they should cede to their robotic partners.

According to Guy Hoffman, robots are being developed to serve in hospitals. They can provide medical services, such as drug delivery or taking patients’ blood pressure and temperature, and can act as nursing assistants, transporting supplies behind the scenes. With the spiraling cost of medical care and the aging of populations, a dwindling number of caregivers is guaranteed in years to come, and robots can be employed to mitigate these problems. Although robots can provide a great deal of efficiency gains and cost savings, we must ponder the impact they will ultimately have on patients. In this presentation, Hoffman explains both the potential of robots in the health care industry and the ethical and emotional considerations we must take into account when designing them for such purposes. What aspects of care are best given to robots, and where is a human touch still necessary? Focusing on the importance of user-centered design, Hoffman takes the issue beyond utility and efficiency to the heart of what patients need emotionally from their caregivers and explores whether machines are capable of providing it.