One argument for why robots will never fully measure up to people is because they lack human-like social skills.But researchers are experimenting with new methods to give robots social skills to better interact with humans.Two new studies provide evidence of progress in this kind of research.One experiment was carried out by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT.The team developed a machine learning system for self-driving vehiclesthat is designed to learn the social characteristics of other drivers.The researchers studied driving situations to learn how other drivers on the road were likely to behave.Since not all human drivers act the same way, the data was meant to teach the driverless car to avoid dangerous situations.The researchers say the technology uses tools borrowed from the field of social psychology.In this experiment, scientists created a system that attempted to decide whether a person's driving style is more selfish or selfless.
