About the episode
Neurotic, anxious robots like C-3P0 from Star Wars' C-3P0 and Marvin from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are a staple of science fiction — but they're not as common in the real world. Most of the time, the chatbots and artificial intelligence "robots" we encounter are programmed to be extraverted, confident and cheerful. But what if that changed?NPR science correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce dives into the world of robot personality research and talks to a team of researchers that are experimenting with a very different kind of robot temperament.Read more of Nell's reporting on the topic here.Interested in more science news? Let us know at shortwave@npr.org. Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Love podcasts? For handpicked recommendations every Friday, subscribe to NPR's Pod Club.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
