4.7 • 6K Ratings
🗓️ 13 August 2025
⏱️ 15 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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 [email protected].
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0:44.1 | slash podclub. |
0:46.7 | You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. |
0:51.4 | Hey everyone, Regina Barbara here. So today we're going to talk about one of my favorite things in the world, robots. |
0:58.8 | In particular, a certain kind of robot personality. |
1:02.1 | What are we going to do? |
1:03.1 | We'll be sent to the spice mines of Kessel or smashed into who knows what. |
1:06.4 | That's C3PO from Star Wars. |
1:08.3 | Wait a minute. Where are you going? |
1:09.7 | He was always expecting the worst. |
1:11.9 | We seem to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life. |
1:15.3 | And this kind of anxious, worried robot is a staple of science fiction. |
1:19.9 | Maybe you're familiar with Marvin, the paranoid android from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. |
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