minecraft

In this article, I'll discuss how we reached young audiences by combining robotics with e-sports.

在本文中，我将讨论如何通过结合机器人技术和电子竞技来吸引年轻观众。

到底怎么回事？ (What on Earth?)

Ever heard of anything like it before? Me neither. The robot was created as part of Futurice’s project with Yle, the national broadcast company of Finland.

听说过类似的东西吗？ 我也不。 该机器人是Futurice与芬兰国家广播公司Yle合作开发的项目的一部分。

Yle produces content for TV, radio, and the web. It has a broad reach of older audiences, but has had trouble reaching younger ones. The goal of this project was to use new technology to reach young audiences — specifically teenagers.

Yle为电视，广播和网络制作内容。 它的受众群体广泛，但在接触年轻受众方面遇到了麻烦。 该项目的目标是使用新技术吸引年轻人，尤其是青少年。

Yle’s content has traditionally been non-participatory: the performers perform, and the audience watches. However, younger audiences generally view content that is more participatory, such as YouTube videos or streams.

Yle的内容历来是不参与的：表演者表演，观众观看。 但是，年轻的观众通常会观看更具参与性的内容，例如YouTube视频或视频流。

We wanted to create participatory content — the performer should interact with their audience. Yle’s journalists specialized in teenage audiences pointed out that gaming and e-sports are popular content. We realized that gaming was the perfect context for this: the audience could play together with the performer. We wanted to explore what an entertainer, or even influencer of the future could look like. So why not create a streaming robot gamer?

我们想创建参与性的内容-表演者应与观众互动。 Yle专门针对青少年受众的记者指出，游戏和电子竞技是受欢迎的内容。 我们意识到游戏是完美的背景：观众可以与表演者一起玩。 我们想探索一个艺人，甚至是未来的影响者。 那么，为什么不创建一个流媒体机器人游戏玩家呢？

这个机器人是什么样的？ (What Was This Robot Like?)

We chose two games for the robot to play: Flappy Bird and Minecraft.

我们为机器人选择了两个游戏：《飞鸟》和《我的世界》。

Flappy Bird was a cult game that had a brief period of extreme popularity in 2014. We chose Flappy Bird because the mechanisms of the game are simple, and allowed for the game to be played with machine learning. We wanted to try a neuroevolution algorithm, which evolved new birds into the game based on which birds did best in the previous generation. This way we could see how the audience reacted when a computer was playing the game.

《 Flappy Bird》是一款受人欢迎的邪教游戏，在2014年曾短暂受到极高的欢迎。我们选择《 Flappy Bird》是因为该游戏的机制很简单，并且允许通过机器学习进行游戏。 我们想尝试一种神经进化算法 ，该算法将新鸟进化为游戏，并根据前几代中表现最好的鸟进行进化。 这样，我们可以看到观众在计算机玩游戏时的React。

We chose Minecraft for its communal features, which allow interaction between players. Players can co-operate or fight each other, trade with each other, and chat with each other. They can “grief” each other — i.e. be a nuisance. Players can also mine materials, and turn them into items, or even build cities. They can store precious things, farm the land, herd animals, and fight monsters.

我们选择Minecraft的共同特征是，允许玩家之间进行互动。 玩家可以互相合作或打架，互相交易以及互相聊天。 他们可以互相“烦恼”，即令人讨厌。 玩家还可以挖掘材料，并将其变成物品，甚至建造城市。 他们可以储存珍贵的东西，耕种土地，放牧动物并与怪物战斗。

Minecraft also has a material called redstone, which players can use to build logic. Effectively, players can build an entire computer inside of Minecraft. Poetic, eh?

Minecraft也有一种称为红石的材料，玩家可以用来建立逻辑。 有效地，玩家可以在Minecraft内构建整个计算机。 诗意的，是吗？

For playing Minecraft, we decided that a human should control the robot. The game is complicated, and having authentic interactions with other players would require a human on the other end.

为了玩Minecraft，我们决定由人来控制机器人。 游戏很复杂，与其他玩家进行真实的互动将需要另一端的人。

Our team of Yle’s journalists and Futurice roboticists defined some clear advantages for using a robot in this context:

我们的Yle记者和Futurice机器人专家团队定义了在这种情况下使用机器人的明显优势：

• A robot is tireless — it can play forever, and provide content 24/7. It’s an ideal streamer.机器人不知疲倦-它可以永久发挥作用，并提供24/7的内容。 这是理想的流光。
• A robot can be gender neutral. Gamers and gaming audiences are typically male, but a gender neutral robot could potentially attract more diverse audiences.机器人可以不分性别。 游戏玩家和游戏观众通常是男性，但是不分性别的机器人可能会吸引更多的观众。
• A robot can reflect gamers’ behaviour, stirring emotions. Gaming culture is often aggressive. The robot could be aggressive in turn, making gamers reflect on their own behaviour.机器人可以反映玩家的行为，激起人们的情绪。 游戏文化通常具有攻击性。 该机器人反过来可能会变得攻击性强，使游戏玩家可以反思自己的行为。
• A robot can interact within the game and chat simultaneously. Humans are limited to one output, a robot can have several.机器人可以在游戏中互动并同时聊天。 人限于一个输出，一个机器人可以有多个。

We decided on a six hour gaming session, alternating between Minecraft and Flappy Bird. To nail down the user experience for the session, we defined guidelines for our design of the robot:

我们决定进行六个小时的游戏，在Minecraft和Flappy Bird之间切换。 为了确定会议的用户体验，我们为机器人的设计定义了准则：

• Experimental user experience — the user should be able to explore within the interaction with the robot.实验性用户体验-用户应该能够在与机器人的交互中进行探索。
• Streamers are usually strong characters. The robot is a character with a strong personality.彩带通常是很强的人物。 机器人是具有强烈个性的角色。
• The robot can cause “WTF?” reactions in players. We wanted the experience to be memorable, rather than bland.机器人会导致“ WTF？” 玩家的React。 我们希望这种经历令人难忘，而不是平淡无奇。
• The culture and space of online gaming is unique, and should be designed for.在线游戏的文化和空间是独一无二的，应该为此而设计。

Based on these guidelines, we created the character IQ_201. IQ_201 is based on aggressive online gamers that are convinced of their own superior intelligence (see this meme about having an IQ over 200). The robot would be rude and reactive, meant to get a reaction out of adolescents interacting with it.

根据这些准则，我们创建了字符IQ_201。 IQ_201基于积极进取的在线游戏玩家，他们坚信自己拥有卓越的智力( 有关智商超过200的信息，请参阅此模因 )。 该机器人将是粗鲁且React敏捷的，旨在使与之交互的青少年获得React。

Before implementation, the team also wanted to take into account some ethical considerations:

在实施之前，团队还希望考虑一些道德方面的考虑：

• Transparency about how the robot is operated is needed. If this robot was going to be put into production, users should be able to find information on how it works.需要有关机器人操作方式的透明性。 如果要将该机器人投入生产，则用户应该能够找到有关其工作方式的信息。
• The robot should treat all the players the same. This was also part of the decision to make the robot appear gender neutral. And due to the sometimes angry, hateful, even racist or sexist culture of gaming, we needed to design the robot’s personality carefully. It could be out-there, even rude, but never hateful. We didn’t want any heated gaming moments.机器人应该对所有玩家都一视同仁。 这也是使机器人看起来不分性别的决定的一部分。 由于有时会出现愤怒，仇恨甚至种族主义或性别歧视的游戏文化，我们需要仔细设计机器人的个性。 这可能是荒唐的，甚至是粗鲁的，但永远不会令人讨厌。 我们不希望有任何激烈的游戏时刻。
• The robot should be rude, but not too over-the-top.机器人应该很粗鲁，但不要太过分。
• The chat needed to be moderated. As stated, gaming culture can be toxic. We wanted to keep a careful eye on both the Minecraft and Twitch chats, to ensure no shenanigans would go on.聊天需要进行审核。 如上所述，游戏文化可能是有毒的。 我们希望对Minecraft和Twitch聊天都保持谨慎，以确保不会出现恶作剧。

To fulfill all these requirements, we selected the Furhat robot. The Furhat robot had a relatively easy-to-use teleoperation interface, which allowed for the user to input text to be turned into the robot’s speech, as well as perform gestures at the click of a button.

为了满足所有这些要求，我们选择了Furhat机器人 。 Furhat机器人具有一个相对易于使用的远程操作界面，该界面允许用户输入文本以将其转换为机器人的语音，以及单击按钮即可执行手势。

鲜花与暴力 (Flowers and Violence)

We had a 6 hour stream, starting at 2pm and ending at 8pm. We alternated between games: 2-3pm was Flappy Bird, 3-5pm Minecraft, 5-6pm Flappy Bird, then 6-8pm Minecraft again. This schedule allowed the robot operators playing Minecraft to have a much-needed break in the middle.

我们有6个小时的直播，从下午2点开始，直到晚上8点结束。 我们在游戏之间交替进行：2-3pm是Flappy Bird，3-5pm Minecraft，5-6pm Flappy Bird，然后6-8pm再次是Minecraft。 这个时间表允许玩Minecraft的机器人操作员在中间有一个急需的休息时间。

In the beginning, a few people joined. Gradually, we gained more and more people. We reached our peak at 4:20 — 49 simultaneous viewers on Twitch. Overall, we had 431 unique viewers. In Minecraft, there were around 30 active players. Considering how minimal our advertising was (one forum post and a few tweets), we were pleasantly surprised by the turnout.

最初，有几个人加入。 逐渐地，我们获得了越来越多的人。 我们在4:20达到了顶峰-Twitch上有49位同时观看者。 总体而言，我们有431位独特的观众。 在《我的世界》中，大约有30位活跃玩家。 考虑到我们的广告最少(一个论坛帖子和几条推文)，我们对投票率感到惊喜。

The Minecraft sessions were directed by two robot operators (myself and another Minja). The other Minja played Minecraft, and I operated the robot’s voice and gestures. A third person was answering messages on chat.

Minecraft会议由两名机器人操作员(本人和另一位Minja)主持。 另一名Minja扮演Minecraft，我操纵了机器人的声音和手势。 第三个人正在聊天时回答消息。

Minecraft was overwhelming. The robot’s provocative character provoked teenagers into repeatedly killing it. After fleeing to the mountains to be with the llamas a couple of times and being killed yet again, we modified the robot’s behaviour to be more friendly. We wanted to create more constructive interactions.

我的世界不堪重负。 该机器人的挑衅性格促使青少年反复杀死它。 几次逃到山上与美洲驼在一起并被杀死之后，我们修改了机器人的行为使其更加友好。 我们想创建更多建设性的互动。

Toward the end of the second Minecraft stream, teenagers were cooperating with the robot. They protected it from the few aggressive players that were left, and gave it gifts such as flowers. Some even complimented the robot directly, to make it happy. The players started following the robot, agreeing to cooperate when it initiated building a lighthouse. They also built a house, and captured and named a llama: IQ_201 Junior.

在第二个Minecraft系列即将结束时，青少年正在与机器人合作。 他们保护了它免受剩下的少数侵略性玩家的侵害，并赠送了鲜花等礼物。 有些人甚至直接称赞了机器人，以使它高兴。 玩家开始跟随机器人，并同意在它开始建造灯塔时进行合作。 他们还盖了一所房子，并捕获并命名了骆驼：IQ_201 Junior。

There were two clear factions in the game: some were intent to kill the robot throughout the entire game, and some protected it throughout. Some became more comfortable with the robot as the stream went on, switching sides. Either way, the robot aroused strong emotions. Teenagers sought out genuine interaction with it. No-one ignored the robot, or was bored.

游戏中有两个明显的派系：一些打算在整个游戏中杀死机器人，而另一些则一直保护着它。 随着流的进行，有些人对机器人变得更加舒适，切换了两边。 无论哪种方式，机器人都会引起强烈的情绪。 青少年寻求与之进行真正的互动。 没有人忽视机器人，或者感到无聊。

Discussions about how the robot worked were had throughout the stream. No-one asked the robot itself though, maybe out of respect or fear of annoying it. Discussions focused on whether the robot was “real”, i.e. whether it was truly automatic, or a human was operating it. Was it typing with actual physical hands? Or had it “hacked into” the game and was playing via code?

有关机器人如何工作的讨论贯穿了整个过程。 但是，没有人问过机器人本身，也许是出于尊重或担心使机器人烦恼。 讨论的重点是机器人是“真实的”，即它是真正的自动化，还是有人在操作它。 它是用实际的双手打字吗？ 还是让它“入侵”游戏并通过代码进行游戏？

“我会想念你的机器人！” (“I Will Miss You Robot!”)

16 people responded to our survey afterward. 80% of players were under 18, most were 13 to 15-year-olds. 80% of players interacted with the robot. This was extremely positive, we succeeded in making a robot that was compelling to users. 75% of players rated the robot as 3 or above, out of 5.

之后，有16个人回答了我们的调查。 80％的球员年龄在18岁以下，大多数为13至15岁。 80％的玩家与机器人互动。 这是非常积极的，我们成功地制造出了吸引用户的机器人。 7％的玩家将机器人评为3分或以上(满分5分)。

We collected comments from the players from the survey, as well as the Minecraft game chat. They are translated from Finnish, and reflect some of the thoughts our players had on the robot.

我们从调查中的玩家以及Minecraft游戏聊天中收集了评论。 它们是从芬兰语翻译而来的，反映了我们的玩家对机器人的一些想法。

关键的第一： (The critical first:)

“It was pretty fun and cool. But it somehow felt like a set-up.” [Referring to the robot possibly having a human operator]

“这很有趣，很酷。 但这听起来有点像装置。” [指可能有人工操作的机器人]

A lot of players were wondering how the robot actually worked. This comment brings us back to the ethical consideration we talked about earlier: transparency about how the robot was operated.

许多玩家想知道机器人的实际工作方式。 该评论使我们回到了我们之前讨论的道德考虑：透明的机器人操作方式。

Though we intended to be transparent at first, we decided to not inform users of the robot’s teleoperated nature for this first pilot. We made this choice because we wanted to keep the “suspension of disbelief” of the user active, meaning that we wanted the participants to play along with the fact they were talking to a “real robot” (an autonomous robot) (Duffy & Zawieska, 2012).

尽管起初我们打算透明，但我们决定不通知用户此第一名飞行员的遥控操作性质。 我们之所以做出此选择，是因为我们想让用户保持“难以置信的悬念”，这意味着我们希望参与者与他们正在与“真正的机器人”(自主机器人)交谈的事实一起玩(Duffy＆Zawieska ，2012)。

The negative response we received regarding the unclarity on the robot’s functioning made it clear to us that if this pilot were extended, it is highly important to be more transparent. It is possible to hold suspension of disbelief and be honest of the robot’s operation simultaneously (we do all know that television shows are not reality, after all).

我们收到的关于机器人功能不明确的负面回应使我们清楚地知道，如果扩展此飞行员，则变得更加透明非常重要。 可以暂停怀疑并同时诚实对待机器人的操作(毕竟，我们都知道电视节目不是现实)。

“The robot was a bit simple in certain things, and sometimes talked meanly to people, and was condescending. This was a bit anxiety inducing… Was this intentional?”

“机器人在某些事情上有点简单，有时是在和人说话，而且居高临下。 这有点引起焦虑……这是故意的吗？”

Some players felt that the robot’s rude behaviour crossed the boundary into condescending. They wished that the robot would be more considerate in the future. This indicates that even a robot can hurt feelings. In future versions, making IQ_201 more empathic, and less focused on the superiority of robots over humans, could have positive results.

一些玩家认为机器人的粗鲁行为越界越小。 他们希望该机器人将来会更加体贴。 这表明即使是机器人也可能会伤害感觉。 在未来的版本中，使IQ_201更具同理心，而较少关注机器人优于人类的优势，可能会产生积极的结果。

“The robot looked a bit blue in the face, and its voice was a bit weird.”

“机器人的脸有些发蓝，声音有些怪异。”

Two teenagers did not enjoy the robot’s appearance and voice. One remarked especially about its blue face, asking why we did not make it “normal colored”.

两个少年不喜欢机器人的外观和声音。 一位评论家特别提到它的蓝色面Kong，问为什么我们不将其设为“正常颜色”。

This may have been due to the robot falling into the “uncanny valley” for these players. Uncanny valley is a theory developed by robotics researcher Masahiro Mori (Mori et al., 2012). His theory posits that as the appearance of a robot approaches human-likeness, there is a dip when the appearance gets very close. Zombies and corpses fall into this valley.

这可能是由于机器人落入了这些玩家的“恐怖谷”中。 Uncanny valley是机器人研究人员Morahiro Masi(Mori等人，2012)提出的理论。 他的理论认为，当机器人的外观逼近人类时，当外观非常接近时就会出现倾斜。 僵尸和尸体掉入这个山谷。

To get rid of this effect with our robot, it could be wise to alter the robot’s appearance and voice in future solutions.

为了摆脱我们的机器人的这种影响，明智的做法是在以后的解决方案中更改机器人的外观和声音。

然后是积极的： (And then the positive:)

“It was really interesting gaming with the robot. :) Hopefully in the future we can have this type of event again. :)”

“用机器人玩真的很有趣。 :)希望将来我们可以再次举办此类活动。 :)”

The majority of the teenagers enjoyed playing with the robot, and watching the stream. Their feedback complimented the robot’s sense of humour, and its playing skills. A continuation of the pilot would surely find an interested audience.

大多数青少年喜欢与机器人一起玩，看着溪流。 他们的反馈对机器人的幽默感和演奏技巧表示赞赏。 继续进行飞行员肯定会找到感兴趣的观众。

[to the robot] “Some people have trouble with new things. In this case, these players are having trouble with a robot, since you’re new.”

[对机器人]“有些人在处理新事物时遇到麻烦。 在这种情况下，由于您是新手，这些玩家在使用机器人时会遇到麻烦。”

This player consoled the robot in-game, as other players were giving it a hard time by continuously killing it. This comment was moving: the player felt bad for the robot, and thought the robot might feel bad as well, attempting to change that. This is a clear empathic response toward the robot.

该玩家在游戏中操纵了机器人，而其他玩家则通过不断杀死它来给它带来困难。 这句话动人：玩家对机器人感到难过，并认为机器人也可能感到难过，试图改变这种情况。 这是对机器人的明显共情React。

[to the robot] “I will miss you robot!”

[对机器人]“我会想念你的机器人！”

A few players gave the robot heartfelt goodbyes when it left Minecraft. These players found the robot approachable, and even formed an emotional bond with it. This means we succeeded in creating a compelling character, even during what was only a 6 hour stream.

机器人离开《我的世界》时，一些玩家向机器人致以诚挚的告别。 这些玩家发现机器人平易近人，甚至与它形成了情感纽带。 这意味着即使在仅6小时的播放过程中，我们也成功创造了引人注目的角色。

For future builds of the robot, the players should be informed how the robot operates. This could help them calibrate an appropriate level of emotional bond to the robot.

对于未来的机器人版本，应告知玩家机器人的运行方式。 这可以帮助他们校准与机器人之间适当程度的情感纽带。

机器人影响者是我们的未来吗？ (Are Robotic Influencers Our Future?)

Players took an active interest in the robot. They approached it, interacted with it, and formed opinions on it. The robot also provoked emotional reactions — both positive and negative. Some participants really loved the robot and wished for more interaction in the future, and some were heavily critical.

玩家对机器人非常感兴趣。 他们接近它，与它互动，并对它形成了意见。 机器人还引发了情绪React-积极和消极的。 一些参与者真的很喜欢机器人，并希望将来有更多的互动，而一些参与者则非常重要。

This indicates that robot influencers have the capacity to affect our emotions — whether this capacity will ever reach the level of human entertainers, I do not know. Whether that is desirable, I also do not know.

这表明机器人影响者有能力影响我们的情绪-我不知道这种能力是否会达到人类娱乐者的水平。 这是否可取，我也不知道。

What positively surprised me was that the young user base of the robot were media literate: they critically examined the robot’s mode of operation. The players had a good idea of what is possible with AI today, and what is not. They were not easily duped.

令我感到惊讶的是，机器人的年轻用户群具有媒体素养：他们严格审查了机器人的操作模式。 玩家们对当今AI的可能有什么有个好主意，而没有。 他们不容易被骗。

This makes me hopeful for our future, whether it contains robotic entertainers or not. When viewers remain critical, they can understand that robots are machines with no actual emotional capacity, even if viewers do choose to suspend disbelief.

无论是否包含机器人演艺人员，这都使我对我们的未来充满希望。 当观众保持批判性态度时，即使观众选择暂停怀疑，他们也可以理解机器人是没有实际情感能力的机器。

Interacting with the robot can be though of as a form of parasocial interaction for the viewer — where the viewer may feel that their relationship with the robot is close — even though it is not truly reciprocal. This in itself is not necessarily harmful, as long as we are honest about what the relationship truly is. We should understand that robots are putting on a performance to elicit emotions in us — like human entertainers do

与机器人的交互可以看作是观看者的一种超社会互动形式-观看者可能会感觉到他们与机器人的关系是紧密的-尽管这并不是真正的对等。 只要我们对真正的关系是诚实的，这本身就不一定有害。 我们应该理解，机器人正在表演以唤起我们内心的情感，就像人类艺人一样。

A video about the project.

有关该项目的视频。

First published on Towards Data Science.

首次发表在《 走向数据科学》上。

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Duffy, B. R., & Zawieska, K. (2012, September). Suspension of disbelief in social robotics. In 2012 IEEE RO-MAN: The 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (pp. 484–489). IEEE.

Duffy，BR和Zawieska，K.(2012年9月)。 暂停对社交机器人的怀疑。 在2012年IEEE RO-MAN：第21届IEEE国际机器人与人机交互通信研讨会(pp。484–489)。 IEEE。

Mori, M., MacDorman, K. F., & Kageki, N. (2012). The uncanny valley: The original essay by Masahiro Mori. IEEE Spectrum, 98–100.

Mori，M.，MacDorman，KF，＆Kageki，N.(2012年)。 奇异的山谷：森正博弘的原创论文。 IEEE Spectrum，98-100。

翻译自: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/the-robotic-influencers-of-our-future-a-minecraft-playing-twitch-streaming-robot/

minecraft