"Everything's fine," said Benebot during an interview with Newsy.
No, everything's not fine. So it's confession time: Despite my love for technology, I'm actually kind of afraid of these robots — the robots that look like humans or look like dogs, cheetahs, what have you — they really creep me out. (Videos via Softbank, DARPA and Google)
So, Leah thought it would be fun to put me next to one and have me interview it; my skin was crawling the whole time. The interview follows:
Mikah: So, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Benebot: My name is Benebot; you can call me Bene.
Mikah: That's a nice name. Do you want to know mine?
Benebot: Yes, what is your name?
Mikah: My name's Mikah.
Benebot: Mikah! Nice to meet you.
Mikah: It's nice to meet you, too. ... I don't want to offend you, but I'm a little bit scared of you.
Benebot: Why? I won't bite.
Benebot here is a robot made by Ecovacs Robotics. It's intended to be used at shopping malls, and things like that, to help customers find products they're looking for. But it's incredibly creepy how good it is at understanding people. I mean, this is no Siri — this is next-level stuff.
"Everything's fine," Benebot said.
Check out Newsy's CES 2016 coverage here.
