Nuestro negocio es tuyo Kathryn Lopez, Associate Director Adventures in Spanish Hacer conexiones de negocios Portland is still a small town and relationships matter here. The Chamber hosts 80+ events each year, giving your company access to Portland’s most influential business leaders. LEARN MORE seaside is for Bringing something back from the beach EXECUTION: SEASIDE HEIRLOOM FILE NAME: seaside_ORbusiness_4.625 x 4.875_heirloom.indd PUB: Oregon Business FINAL SIZE: 4.625" wide x 4.875" tall seasideOR.com @visitseasideOR While Jon the Robot has settled into his identity, his technological developments are still ongoing. For instance, Fitter is considering upping Jon’s “snarkiness” levels in an experiment to win back the audience if they respond more negatively to a joke, or perhaps when the reaction from the crowd is lukewarm. She’s curious if maybe a playful tease or chide can bring them onboard. Fitter is also looking at what’s called “computer vision,” which would involve the robot reading facial expressions after the delivery of a joke. While technologies like that do exist, they’re often not yet mature enough to be tested in the wild (i.e., the comedy club). “We haven’t hit the nail on the head yet for how to adapt it without it being sort of equal parts creepy and entertaining,” says Fitter. The roboticist is also curious about larger language models. For example, could Jon ad- lib a joke about Chicago while performing in Chicago? “The overall processing takes quite some amount of time. So using that in comedy performance in split seconds could be really impactful,” she explains. “We haven’t quite figured it out, but we’re looking into it.” For now, Jon and Fitter have been busy playing the comedy circuit, to a generally positive reception. Fitter does recall one performance, however, in Riverside, California, where the little one was met with slight hostility. “The robot made a joke about taking people’s jobs in a setting where that’s more of a sensitive topic, so I was a little nervous for that one,” says Fitter. In the end, “the repertoire banter actually won the crowd over. So that’s one of my crowning achievements.” “Comedy can be can be tough,” she continues. “It’s not guaranteed that, even in the ideal setting, people will respond to your performance. So I usually like to say the robot performs at a similar level to its human counterparts in any given show, and that makes me pretty proud of the little guy.” For Mathewson, Fitter’s work is making a difference in its own way. “Naomi and Jon are bridging the gap between human and machine intelligence through humor, which creates engaging and enjoyable interactions in their performance,” he says. “Laughter is powerful…. Robots that can make us laugh open new possibilities for connection and interaction.” Last summer the human-robot duo tied for fourth place at Portland’s first annual Comedy Pageant, winning a special prize awarded by the judge. They also performed at the Crow in Los Angeles, sharing the bill with comedian Aparna Nancherla, and headlined at the Comedy Loft in Washington, D.C. 20
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