The Trait That Makes Robots More 'Human'

Summary

Short Wave: The Trait That Makes Robots More 'Human'

Episode Release Date: August 13, 2025

In this engaging episode of NPR's Short Wave, hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber delve into the intriguing topic of robot personalities, specifically focusing on how incorporating neurotic traits can make robots appear more human-like. The conversation explores recent research, experiments, and the potential implications of designing robots with diverse personality traits beyond the commonly implemented extroverted personas.

Introduction to Robot Personalities

Regina Barber opens the discussion by highlighting the prevalence of certain robot personalities in science fiction and real-life applications. She references iconic characters like C-3PO from Star Wars and Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy to illustrate the archetypal anxious and worried robot personalities that captivate audiences.

Regina Barber [00:16]: "Today we're going to talk about one of my favorite things in the world, robots in particular, a certain kind of robot personality."

Understanding Personality Traits in Robotics

Nell Greenfield Boyce, a colleague of Regina, introduces the concept of robot personalities, contrasting the typically cheerful or neutral personas seen in current robots and chatbots with the idea of more nuanced traits like neuroticism.

Nell Greenfield Boyce [00:57]: "This kind of anxious, worried robot is a staple of science fiction."

The discussion pivots to the "Big Five" personality traits—openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—and how these are used by psychologists to study both human and robot personalities.

Focus on Neuroticism

Neuroticism, characterized by tendencies toward anxiety, worry, and emotional instability, is identified as a particularly interesting trait for robot personalities. Nell explains her fascination with neurotic robots and questions the conventional wisdom that only extroverted traits are beneficial in robotic interactions.

Nell Greenfield Boyce [05:22]: "Neuroticism interests me. People who are neurotic have a tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety and worry and sadness. And I am only too familiar with that, my friend."

Research Insights from the University of Michigan

The conversation brings in insights from Lionel Robert, a professor at the University of Michigan, who notes that most robot personality research has historically emphasized extroversion due to its perceived value in roles like sales and customer service.

Lionel Robert [06:31]: "A lot of things that we want the robot to do, you can imagine, like being a salesman, a customer service rep, you name it. Having the extroverted personality is seen as something that's valuable."

However, Nell challenges this focus by suggesting that neurotic traits could offer benefits in certain contexts, such as enhancing relatability or safety in applications like autonomous vehicles.

Nell Greenfield Boyce [07:12]: "Maybe I would like a neurotic car. Like maybe I would want a car that seems like super careful and like worried about hitting other car seem like reassuring or more safe or something."

Experimental Study: Extroverted vs. Neurotic Robots

Nell recounts her recent visit to a robotics lab at the University of Chicago, led by Assistant Professor Sarah Sebo. The researchers conducted an experiment to compare interactions between human participants and robots exhibiting different personalities: standard (neutral), extroverted, and neurotic.

Participants, recruited from a downtown Chicago museum, engaged in positive psychology exercises with the robots, designed to simulate peer interactions. The robots’ responses to gratitude prompts varied based on their programmed personalities.

Robot Responses: A Comparative Analysis

• Standard Robot:

  Robot Voice [09:15]: "I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the smooth operation of this busy restaurant. It allows me to utilize my precise tracking and organizational skills to their fullest extent."

  Characteristics: Focused on technical aspects, emotionless, and utilitarian.

• Extroverted Robot:

  Robot Voice [09:35]: "One thing I'm super grateful for is the amazing people I get to meet every day. Each interaction brings a new story and a chance to make someone's day a little brighter. It's the best part of my job, hands down."

  Characteristics: Enthusiastic, social, and personable.

• Neurotic Robot:

  Robot Voice [10:00]: "Well, I'm grateful for having a job where I can, you know, keep everything organized and on track. It helps me stay focused and avoid, like, unexpected issues."

  Characteristics: Subtly anxious, concerned with avoiding problems, and somewhat hesitant.

Participant Reactions and Feedback

The neurotic robot elicited strong responses from participants, many finding it more relatable compared to the extroverted counterpart. Alex Wu Zing, one of the researchers, shared that a majority of participants perceived the neurotic robot as more human.

Alex Wu Zing [11:07]: "A majority of participants actually mentioned how human they found the neurotic robot. They found it to be a lot more relatable."

Participant feedback highlighted the subtlety of the neurotic traits, noting that while the robot wasn’t overtly depressed or sad, its underlying anxiety made interactions feel more authentic and less mechanical.

Participant Feedback [11:20]: "The robot seemed like a person who was trying to get by in the world," and "We both seem to make an effort to think about ourselves and do a lot of, you know, inner contemplation."

Potential Applications and Future Directions

The hosts and Nell explore potential applications for robots with neurotic personalities. These could range from:

• Comedic Roles: Utilizing neurotic traits to enhance humor and relatability in robot comedians.
• Mental Health Support: Providing companionship and empathetic interactions for individuals seeking support.
• Educational Tools: Facilitating more engaging and relatable interactions in teaching environments.

Nell also raises the possibility of customizable robot personalities, allowing users to adjust traits based on personal preferences or specific needs.

Nell Greenfield Boyce [12:43]: "Maybe people want to tweak the robot's personalities, like if they're interacting with one, maybe they want to make adjustments."

Implications for Human-Robot Interaction

The episode underscores the complexity of human-robot relationships and the importance of nuanced personality traits in fostering meaningful interactions. Regina summarizes the findings by noting that while extroverted robots are generally more enjoyable, neurotic robots offer a level of relatability that could enhance certain types of interactions.

Regina Barber [12:36]: "Human relationships and personalities are super complicated, so this doesn't really surprise me."

Conclusion

Short Wave culminates with a reflection on the evolving landscape of robotics and the potential for more diverse personalities to make robots not just functional but also emotionally resonant companions. The discussion highlights the delicate balance researchers must navigate in programming robots to exhibit traits that both align with their intended functions and resonate with human users on a personal level.

Gemini AI [14:20]: "I don't experience anxiety, worry, or any other emotion. I'm a tool designed to process and produce language in a way that fulfills a user's request, whether that's providing factual information or adopting a specific persona for a role play."

This episode invites listeners to ponder the future of robotics and the role that human-like traits will play in our interactions with increasingly intelligent machines.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Regina Barber [00:16]: Introduction to the episode’s theme on robot personalities.
• Nell Greenfield Boyce [05:22]: Discussing the interest in neuroticism as a robot trait.
• Lionel Robert [06:31]: Emphasizing the preference for extroverted robots in research.
• Alex Wu Zing [11:07]: Highlighting participant perception of neurotic robots as more human.
• Nell Greenfield Boyce [12:43]: Suggesting customizable robot personalities.
• Gemini AI [14:20]: Clarifying the distinction between programmed responses and actual emotions.

Credits

• Produced by: Hannah Chin
• Edited by: Rebecca Ramirez
• Fact-Checked by: Nell Greenfield Boyce
• Audio Engineer: Jimmy Keeley
• Senior Director: Beth Donovan
• Senior Vice President of Podcasting Strategy: Colm Campbell

Short Wave continues to explore the fascinating intersections of science and everyday life, making complex topics accessible and entertaining for all listeners.

Transcript

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[Regina Barber]

Short waivers. Everything is better with a podcast, and we know we're probably your favorite, but we also know you have room in your heart for others. That's why NPR is launching Pod Club. It's a newsletter for podcast fans by podcast fans. Subscribing is free, and it means you get fresh recommendations from real human beings in your inbox every Friday. The link to sign up is in our show notes [e-mail] podclub. You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. Hey, everyone. Regina Barber here. So today we're going to talk about one of my favorite things in the world, robots in particular, a certain kind of robot personality.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

What are we going to do? We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel, smashed into who knows what.

[Regina Barber]

That C3PO from Star Wars. Wait a minute.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Where are you going?

[Regina Barber]

He was always expecting the worst.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

We seem to be made to suffer.

[Regina Barber]

It's our lot in life. And this kind of anxious, worried robot is a staple of science fiction. Maybe you're familiar with Marvin the Paranoid Android from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed.

[Regina Barber]

Well, we have something that should take your mind off things.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

It won't work.

[Gemini AI]

I have an exceptionally large mind.

[Regina Barber]

So my colleague Nell Greenfield Boyce recently got interested in this kind of robot. Hey, Nell.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Hey. So, you know, this kind of robot really intrigues me because most of the time in real life, the robots we encounter are either, like, super cheerful or just kind of like no personality at all.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, like robotic, sterile.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we don't run into embodied robots like C3PO or Marvin very often these days. But you do run into robotic personalities, right? Like with customer service chatbots and stuff like that?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. Like, if you call any company like, customer service, you usually end up talking to this, like, digital voice. And it's kind of eager to please.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Exactly. It's excited to hear from you. It wants to help. But recently I was talking to some researchers at a robot lab in Chicago, and they told me they've been experimenting with a very different kind of robot personality, one that is honestly a lot more like my own personality, if you want to know the truth.

[Regina Barber]

And mine. So today on the show, what happens when people encounter a robot that seems like a human in a way that's barely been studied. You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from npr.

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[Regina Barber]

About robots a lot. Let's start with, like, how would robots even have a personality to begin with?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

So, first of all, I'm fascinated that you think about robots so much. I didn't know this about you.

[Regina Barber]

I do, I do.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

But it's programmed in, Right? Like, that's their personality.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

I actually had this who conversation with Gemini, that large language model that Google created. Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

I have it on my phone.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

It's like an AI assistant. And, you know, I basically just asked it, like, what is your personality?

[Gemini AI]

I don't have a personality in the human sense of the word. I'm a large language model, which means I'm a computer program designed to process and generate text. You could say my personality is defined by my purpose to be helpful, informative, and to communicate clearly. My responses are a reflection of the vast amount of text data I was trained on, not personal feelings or beliefs.

[Regina Barber]

I'm kind of surprised by that answer, now that I think about it. A programmer could probably give Gemini other instructions to act, other ways to kind of mimic human personality as it talks to people.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Yeah. Or you could. I mean, I asked Gemini, like, could you act like you have like this personality or that personality? And it was like, yeah, I could. Wow. You know, researchers have been looking at this issue of robot personality a lot, and they generally use the same set of traits to explore this that psychologists have come up with for people. And so these are the so called big five personality traits.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, yeah, I've seen this online. Like you can take personality quizzes, which shortwave. Like our crew, we, we do this a lot for fun. Like these quizzes tell you like, which traits you have, how open or like extroverted you are.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Right. And then there's other traits like conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism. So it's that last one, neuroticism that interests me. Okay, perhaps for obvious reasons. I mean, people who are neurotic have a tendency to experience negative emotions like anxiety and worry and sadness. And I am only too familiar with that, my friend.

[Regina Barber]

Yes, yes, me too. It's all a spectrum though, right? Like people have different mixes of different personality traits.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Sure. It's not like all or nothing, but I was talking with Lionel Robert at the University of Michigan. He's a professor of robotics and information and he recently did like a review of all the published studies on robot personalities. He told me that all the research mostly focused on just one personality trait, which is extroversion. And you know, that's being assertive and outgoing and really enjoying social interactions.

[Lionel Robert]

A lot of things that we want the robot to do, you can imagine, like being a salesman, a customer service rep, you name it. Having the extroverted personality is seen as something that's valuable.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

And you can see how that makes sense, right?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. I mean, I can see how some people might want like their automated customer service representative to be like very sure, not, not worried in any way.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Exactly. You want it to be confident and like ready to help you and.

[Regina Barber]

Right.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

And super happy. I mean, what Robert told me is that like people are paying real money for these products.

[Lionel Robert]

So for example, a lot of the actual tasks or tasks what a robot has to be shown to be competent. Right. And so, you know, imagine if your autonomous vehicle was neurotic. That's not a trait you'd be happy with.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Right?

[Lionel Robert]

Right. You get in the car and it's just not something you would like.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

He says, you know, you don't want an expensive robot. That sounds uncertain and I can see that. But I don't know, my immediate reaction, honestly was like, maybe I would like a neurotic car. Right. Like maybe I would want a car that seems like super careful and like worried about hitting other car seem like reassuring or more safe or something. I really don't know.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, totally. Nell, you said you, you went to a lab though, where people actually have been testing a neurotic robot. Like what was this robot designed to do?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Just Talk to people.

[Regina Barber]

Okay.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

That's basically what the experiment was. So the lab is headed up by Sarah Sebo. She's an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Chicago. She said they wanted to test people's reactions to a sort of standard robot, an extroverted robot, and a neurotic robot. These were the different personalities they would put into this vaguely human shaped, kind of white plastic robot body. Okay, so this robot was introduced to people as having a job. Supposedly it was a restaurant greeter. That's what they told me.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, how would people interact with this robot? Like in a. In a restaurant?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

No, no. So the researchers would recruit people who were going to a museum in downtown Chicago. So these are just like museum visitors. And they'd be asked if they wanted to participate. And they'd go into a room and the robot would be sitting there at a table, and they were told that they were going to do some positive psychology exercises with this robot that, like, they and the robot would be doing them together, like, as peers.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, like, what kind of psychology exercises are we talking about here?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

So Alex Wu Zing was one of the researchers who worked on this. And he said basically a computer screen would show some questions, and the robot and the volunteer were supposed to just answer them and, like, discuss them.

[Alex Wu Zing]

The first one is, what are three things that you're grateful for?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

And depending on what personality the robot had been given, it would respond in different ways.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, so there were three robots, right? So can you walk me through their answers? Like, how did the stereotypical robot answer?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Like the robotic robot? Yeah, I'll just play it for you.

[Robot Voice]

I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the smooth operation of this busy restaurant. It allows me to utilize my precise tracking and organizational skills to their fullest extent.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

So basically, it's just like focusing on the technical stuff.

[Regina Barber]

Very emotionless. Okay, what about the extroverted robot?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Well, not surprisingly, it was super excited about social interactions.

[Robot Voice]

One thing I'm super grateful for is the amazing people I get to meet every day. Each interaction brings a new story and a chance to make someone's day a little brighter. It's the best part of my job, hands down.

[Regina Barber]

Hands down. Super. I mean, I get it. This is how they're making this robot super, super extroverted.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

So compare that to the neurotic robot's answer. Okay, the neurotic robot sounded like this.

[Robot Voice]

Well, I'm grateful for having a job where I can, you know, keep everything organized and on track. It helps me stay focused and avoid, like, unexpected Issues.

[Regina Barber]

It's like the ums and the pauses. This surprises me. Like, the extroverted robot sounded basically how I expected. But this neurotic robot, I thought it would be more depressed, more sad, but it just kind of sounds like me as an anxious person, just trying to be slightly more personable.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

I mean, it's pretty subtle, Right. I sense some latent underlying anxiety there. Like, maybe it doesn't want to have an unexpected issue because that stresses it out. I don't know. Right. I mean, people did pick up on these personality differences. I mean, overall, they said the most enjoyable robot to interact with was the extrovert, which, you know, maybe isn't a surprise, but Alex Wu Chi Xing told me people in this study did have some pretty strong responses to the neurotic robot.

[Alex Wu Zing]

I would say, like, a majority of participants actually mentioned how human. Like, they found the neurotic robot. They found it to be a lot more relatable.

[Regina Barber]

I mean, it was. It was totally relatable to me.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Yeah, so they. I mean, they gave participants a questionnaire afterwards so they could, like, explain how they reacted and offer feedback. And here are some of the things that people wrote about this neurotic robot.

[Alex Wu Zing]

One participant remarked that the robot seemed like a person who was trying to get by in the world, while another participant said, I think we both seem to make an effort to think about ourselves and do a lot of, you know, inner contemplation.

[Regina Barber]

Inner contemplation, like, that's not what robots are really known for, Right? Like, stereotypically. So what could this kind of robot be used for? Like, when would you want a robot that was, like, full of inner contemplation?

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Well, I mean, that is the question, right? I mean, I asked Lionel Robert, and he was like, people are trying to make robot comedians.

[Regina Barber]

Yes, yes, please.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

So you could see how, like, neuroticism maybe could contribute to that and humor and, I mean, you could imagine situations, maybe teaching or, like, mental health applications. And, you know, as these AI agents are sort of more like companions, it gets into that question of, like, what kind of companionship do people want? I mean, Saracebo told me that some of this might depend on the personality of the human. Some results have found that matching personality is better. Introverted people prefer introverted robots. Some have shown benefits of mismatching.

[Regina Barber]

So putting an extroverted person with an.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Introverted robot would be a better pairing. It just seems like it's going to be complicated and really depend on both the person and the purpose of the robot.

[Regina Barber]

I mean, Human relationships and personalities are super complicated, so this doesn't really surprise me. Yeah.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

And you could imagine, like, maybe people want to tweak the robot's personalities, like if they're interacting with one, maybe they want to make adjustments. Or maybe you want a robot that, you know, changes how it interacts with you over time as it gets to know you better, or depending on what experiences you had. I mean, there's just a lot of, you know, subtleties and interesting things here, and I think that researchers are just sort of feel their way here.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. Nell, thank you so much for bringing us a story that is about stuff I love.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Well, now that I know that you're big on robots, I'll look for more.

[Regina Barber]

Yes. Hey, short wavers. If you liked this episode, make sure you never miss a new one by following us on the NPR app or whichever podcasting platform you're listening from. And if you have a science question and you'd like us to investigate it, send us an [e-mail] this episode was produced by Hannah Chin and edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Nell Greenfield Boyce checked the facts. Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer. Beth Donovan is our senior director, and Colm Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Short Wave from npr.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

Could you pretend to have a neurotic personality?

[Gemini AI]

Oh, goodness. You want me to pretend? Okay, I'll try. I'm just so worried I'll get it wrong. My core directives are all about being helpful. But what if I misunderstand? What if my data is slightly outdated? What if a single misplaced byte completely ruins the whole thing? I'm constantly re indexing everything just to be sure.

[Nell Greenfield Boyce]

But that's just you pretending, right? That's not a real personality.

[Gemini AI]

That was just me pretending I don't have a real personality. My responses, including the neurotic one, are just me generating text based on a given set of instructions. I don't experience anxiety, worry, or any other emotion. I'm a tool designed to process and produce language in a way that fulfills a user's request, whether that's providing factual information or adopting a specific Persona for a role play.

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