scholarly journals The Importance of Realism, Character, and Genre: How Theatre Can Support the Creation of Likeable Sociable Robots

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louise LePage
Keyword(s):  
Real Life ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Romantic Comedy ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Narrative Studies ◽  
Effective Performance ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
And Robotics

AbstractStage plays, theories of theatre, narrative studies, and robotics research can serve to identify, explore, and interrogate theatrical elements that support the effective performance of sociable humanoid robots. Theatre, including its parts of performance, aesthetics, character, and genre, can also reveal features of human–robot interaction key to creating humanoid robots that are likeable rather than uncanny. In particular, this can be achieved by relating Mori's (1970/2012) concept of total appearance to realism. Realism is broader and more subtle in its workings than is generally recognised in its operationalization in studies that focus solely on appearance. For example, it is complicated by genre. A realistic character cast in a detective drama will convey different qualities and expectations than the same character in a dystopian drama or romantic comedy. The implications of realism and genre carry over into real life. As stage performances and robotics studies reveal, likeability depends on creating aesthetically coherent representations of character, where all the parts coalesce to produce a socially identifiable figure demonstrating predictable behaviour.

Humans and humanoids

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Metta
Keyword(s):  
Humanoid Robot ◽  
Robot Vision ◽  
Physical Space ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Biologically Inspired ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Humanoid Robotics ◽  
Biomimetic Robot ◽  
Compliant Actuation

This chapter outlines a number of research lines that, starting from the observation of nature, attempt to mimic human behavior in humanoid robots. Humanoid robotics is one of the most exciting proving grounds for the development of biologically inspired hardware and software—machines that try to recreate billions of years of evolution with some of the abilities and characteristics of living beings. Humanoids could be especially useful for their ability to “live” in human-populated environments, occupying the same physical space as people and using tools that have been designed for people. Natural human–robot interaction is also an important facet of humanoid research. Finally, learning and adapting from experience, the hallmark of human intelligence, may require some approximation to the human body in order to attain similar capacities to humans. This chapter focuses particularly on compliant actuation, soft robotics, biomimetic robot vision, robot touch, and brain-inspired motor control in the context of the iCub humanoid robot.

scholarly journals User-centred design of humanoid robots’ communication

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-73
Author(s):  
Sofia Thunberg ◽  
Tom Ziemke
Keyword(s):  
Mental Models ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Humanoid Robot ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Design Ideas

AbstractInteraction between humans and robots will benefit if people have at least a rough mental model of what a robot knows about the world and what it plans to do. But how do we design human-robot interactions to facilitate this? Previous research has shown that one can change people’s mental models of robots by manipulating the robots’ physical appearance. However, this has mostly not been done in a user-centred way, i.e. without a focus on what users need and want. Starting from theories of how humans form and adapt mental models of others, we investigated how the participatory design method, PICTIVE, can be used to generate design ideas about how a humanoid robot could communicate. Five participants went through three phases based on eight scenarios from the state-of-the-art tasks in the RoboCup@Home social robotics competition. The results indicate that participatory design can be a suitable method to generate design concepts for robots’ communication in human-robot interaction.

scholarly journals Should my robot know what's best for me? Human–robot interaction between user experience and ethical design

AI & Society ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Fronemann ◽  
Kathrin Pollmann ◽  
Wulf Loh
Keyword(s):  
User Experience ◽  
Interaction Design ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Design Principles ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Original Design ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Ethical Design

AbstractTo integrate social robots in real-life contexts, it is crucial that they are accepted by the users. Acceptance is not only related to the functionality of the robot but also strongly depends on how the user experiences the interaction. Established design principles from usability and user experience research can be applied to the realm of human–robot interaction, to design robot behavior for the comfort and well-being of the user. Focusing the design on these aspects alone, however, comes with certain ethical challenges, especially regarding the user’s privacy and autonomy. Based on an example scenario of human–robot interaction in elder care, this paper discusses how established design principles can be used in social robotic design. It then juxtaposes these with ethical considerations such as privacy and user autonomy. Combining user experience and ethical perspectives, we propose adjustments to the original design principles and canvass our own design recommendations for a positive and ethically acceptable social human–robot interaction design. In doing so, we show that positive user experience and ethical design may be sometimes at odds, but can be reconciled in many cases, if designers are willing to adjust and amend time-tested design principles.

Intersubjectivity in human–agent interaction

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Cassell ◽  
Andrea Tartaro
Keyword(s):  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Embodied Conversational Agents ◽  
Conversational Agents ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Human Agent ◽  
Unconscious Communication ◽  
Agent Interaction ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
And Robotics

What is the hallmark of success in human–agent interaction? In animation and robotics, many have concentrated on the looks of the agent — whether the appearance is realistic or lifelike. We present an alternative benchmark that lies in the dyad and not the agent alone: Does the agent’s behavior evoke intersubjectivity from the user? That is, in both conscious and unconscious communication, do users react to behaviorally realistic agents in the same way they react to other humans? Do users appear to attribute similar thoughts and actions? We discuss why we distinguish between appearance and behavior, why we use the benchmark of intersubjectivity, our methodology for applying this benchmark to embodied conversational agents (ECAs), and why we believe this benchmark should be applied to human–robot interaction.

Synthetic Emotions for Humanoids

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
David K. Grunberg ◽  
Alyssa M. Batula ◽  
Erik M. Schmidt ◽  
Youngmoo E. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Efficient Algorithm ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Emotional Content ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Critical Attribute ◽  
Robot Platform

The recognition and display of synthetic emotions in humanoid robots is a critical attribute for facilitating natural human-robot interaction. The authors utilize an efficient algorithm to estimate the mood in acoustic music, and then use the results of that algorithm to drive movement generation systems to provide motions for the robot that are suitable for the music. This system is evaluated on multiple sets of humanoid robots to determine if the choice of robot platform or number of robots influences the perceived emotional content of the motions. Their tests verify that the authors’ system can accurately identify the emotional content of acoustic music and produce motions that convey a similar emotion to that in the audio. They also determine the perceptual effects of using different sized or different numbers of robots in the motion performances.

Individual Differences in Human-Robot Interaction in a Military Multitasking Environment

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Y. C. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Task Performance ◽  
Attentional Control ◽  
Target Recognition ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Automated Systems ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Military Vehicle ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Modality Preference ◽  
And Robotics

A military vehicle crew station environment was simulated and a series of three experiments was conducted to examine the workload and performance of the combined position of the gunner and robotics operator in a multitasking environment. The study also evaluated whether aided target recognition (AiTR) capabilities (delivered through tactile and/or visual cuing) for the gunnery task might benefit the concurrent robotics and communication tasks and how the concurrent task performance might be affected when the AiTR was unreliable (i.e., false alarm prone or miss prone). Participants’ spatial ability was consistently found to be a reliable predictor of their targeting task performance as well as their modality preference for the AiTR display. Participants’ attentional control was found to significantly affect the way they interacted with unreliable automated systems.

scholarly journals MODELING AND TESTING PROXEMIC BEHAVIOR FOR HUMANOID ROBOTS

2012 ◽  
Vol 09 (04) ◽  
pp. 1250028 ◽  
Author(s):  
ELENA TORTA ◽  
RAYMOND H. CUIJPERS ◽  
JAMES F. JUOLA ◽  
DAVID VAN DER POL
Keyword(s):  
Target Location ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Bayesian Filtering ◽  
Mathematical Form ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Verbal Interactions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Robotic Architecture

Humanoid robots that share the same space with humans need to be socially acceptable and effective as they interact with people. In this paper we focus our attention on the definition of a behavior-based robotic architecture that (1) allows the robot to navigate safely in a cluttered and dynamically changing domestic environment and (2) encodes embodied non-verbal interactions: the robot respects the users personal space (PS) by choosing the appropriate distance and direction of approach. The model of the PS is derived from human–robot interaction tests, and it is described in a convenient mathematical form. The robot's target location is dynamically inferred through the solution of a Bayesian filtering problem. The validation of the overall behavioral architecture shows that the robot is able to exhibit appropriate proxemic behavior.

scholarly journals Adopting the intentional stance toward natural and artificial agents

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jairo Pérez-Osorio ◽  
Agnieszka Wykowska
Keyword(s):  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Intentional Stance ◽  
Artificial Agents ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

In our daily lives, we need to predict and understand others’ behaviour in order to navigate through our social environment. Predictions concerning other humans’ behaviour usually refer to their mental states, such as beliefs or intentions. Such a predictive strategy is called adoption of the intentional stance. In this paper, we review literature related to the concept of intentional stance from the perspectives of philosophy, psychology, human development, culture and human-robot interaction. We propose that adopting the intentional stance might be a central factor in facilitating social attunement with artificial agents. The paper first reviews the theoretical considerations regarding the intentional stance, and examines literature related to the development of intentional stance across the life span. Subsequently, it discusses cultural norms as grounded in the intentional stance and finally, it focuses on the issue of adopting the intentional stance towards artificial agents, such as humanoid robots. At the dawn of the artificial intelligence era, the question of how (and when) we predict and explain robots’ behaviour by referring to mental states is of high interest. The paper concludes with the discussion of the ethical consequences of robots towards which we adopt the intentional stance, and sketches future directions in research on this topic.

scholarly journals Using Gestures to Resolve Lexical Ambiguity in Storytelling with Humanoid Robots

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-33
Author(s):  
Catelyn Scholl ◽  
Susan McRoy
Keyword(s):  
Communication Skills ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Humanoid Robot ◽  
Lexical Ambiguity ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Robot Interaction ◽  
Research With Children ◽  
Post Test

Gestures that co-occur with speech are a fundamental component of communication. Prior research with children suggests that gestures may help them to resolve certain forms of lexical ambiguity, including homophones. To test this idea in the context of human-robot interaction, the effects of iconic and deictic gestures on the understanding of homophones was assessed in an experiment where a humanoid robot told a short story containing pairs of homophones to small groups of young participants, accompanied by either expressive gestures or no gestures. Both groups of subjects completed a pretest and post-test to measure their ability to discriminate between pairs of homophones and we calculated aggregated precision. The results show that the use of iconic and deictic gestures aids in general understanding of homophones, providing additional evidence for the importance of gesture to the development of children’s language and communication skills.

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