Showing papers in "International Journal of Social Robotics in 2015"
TL;DR: The potential benefits and challenges of building anthropomorphic robots are discussed, from both a philosophical perspective and from the viewpoint of empirical research in the fields of human–robot interaction and social psychology.
Abstract: Anthropomorphism is a phenomenon that describes the human tendency to see human-like shapes in the environment. It has considerable consequences for people’s choices and beliefs. With the increased presence of robots, it is important to investigate the optimal design for this technology. In this paper we discuss the potential benefits and challenges of building anthropomorphic robots, from both a philosophical perspective and from the viewpoint of empirical research in the fields of human–robot interaction and social psychology. We believe that this broad investigation of anthropomorphism will not only help us to understand the phenomenon better, but can also indicate solutions for facilitating the integration of human-like machines in the real world.
298 citations
TL;DR: A review from sociological concepts to social robotics and human-aware navigation, and recent robotic experiments focusing on the way social conventions and robotics must be linked are presented.
Abstract: In the context of a growing interest in modelling human behavior to increase the robots' social abilities, this article presents a survey related to socially-aware robot navigation. It presents a review from sociological concepts to social robotics and human-aware navigation. Social cues, signals and proxemics are discussed. Socially aware behavior in terms of navigation is tackled also. Finally, recent robotic experiments focusing on the way social conventions and robotics must be linked is presented.
287 citations
TL;DR: This paper introduces a set of metrics useful in direct, face to face scenarios, based on the behaviors analysis of the human partners, and shows how such metrics are useful to assess how the robot is perceived by humans and how this perception changes according to the behaviors shown by the social robot.
Abstract: To interact and cooperate with humans in their daily-life activities, robots should exhibit human-like " intelligence ". This skill will substantially emerge from the interconnection of all the algorithms used to ensure cognitive and interaction capabilities. While new robotics technologies allow us to extend such abilities, their evaluation for social interaction is still challenging. The quality of a human-robot interaction can not be reduced to the evaluation of the employed algorithms: we should integrate the engagement information that naturally arises during interaction in response to the robot's behaviors. In this paper we want to show a practical approach to evaluate the engagement aroused during interactions between humans and social robots. We will introduce a set of metrics useful in direct, face to face scenarios, based on the behaviors analysis of the human partners. We will show how such metrics are useS. M. Anzalone · M. Chetouani Sorbonne Universites , ful to assess how the robot is perceived by humans and how this perception changes according to the behaviors shown by the social robot. We discuss experimental results obtained in two human-interaction studies, with the robots Nao and iCub respectively.
172 citations
TL;DR: This literature review attempts to provide an engaged but sober (non-speculative) insight into the societal issues raised by the new robotics: which robot technologies are coming; what are they capable of; and which ethical and regulatory questions will they consequently raise.
Abstract: This article investigates the social significance of robotics for the years to come in Europe and the US by studying robotics developments in five different areas: the home, health care, traffic, the police force, and the army. Our society accepts the use of robots to perform dull, dangerous, and dirty industrial jobs. But now that robotics is moving out of the factory, the relevant question is how far do we want to go with the automation of care for children and the elderly, of killing terrorists, or of making love? This literature review attempts to provide an engaged but sober (non-speculative) insight into the societal issues raised by the new robotics: which robot technologies are coming; what are they capable of; and which ethical and regulatory questions will they consequently raise?
127 citations
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that children overcome strong incorrect biases in the material to be learned, but with no significant differences between embodiment conditions, and suggest that the use of real robots carries an advantage in terms of social presence that could provide educational benefits.
Abstract: The application of social robots to the domain of education is becoming more prevalent. However, there remain a wide range of open issues, such as the effectiveness of robots as tutors on student learning outcomes, the role of social behaviour in teaching interactions, and how the embodiment of a robot influences the interaction. In this paper, we seek to explore children’s behaviour towards a robot tutor for children in a novel guided discovery learning interaction. Since the necessity of real robots (as opposed to virtual agents) in education has not been definitively established in the literature, the effect of robot embodiment is assessed. The results demonstrate that children overcome strong incorrect biases in the material to be learned, but with no significant differences between embodiment conditions. However, the data do suggest that the use of real robots carries an advantage in terms of social presence that could provide educational benefits.
121 citations
TL;DR: New insights into the use of technology in the language classroom are provided, suggesting that teachers and material developers should integrate technology into the language learning process.
Abstract: This study aimed to examine the effect of robot assisted language learning (RALL) on the anxiety level and attitude in English vocabulary acquisition amongst Iranian EFL junior high school students. Forty-six female students, who were beginners at the age of 12, participated in this study and were randomly assigned into two groups of RALL (30 students) and non-RALL (16 students). The textbook, the materials, as well as the teacher were the same in the two groups. However in the RALL group, the treatment was given by a teacher accompanied by a humanoid robot assistant. Two questionnaires of anxiety and attitude were utilized to measure the students’ anxiety and attitude (Horwitz et al. 1986; Alemi and Alipour 2012). The results of descriptive and t tests indicated that there was lower anxiety and a more positive attitude towards English vocabulary acquisition in the RALL group compared with those in the non-RALL group. The study showed that the students in the RALL group had great fun in the learning process; they also believed they were learning more effectively, which helped them boost their motivation in the long run. The present study provides new insights into the use of technology in the language classroom, suggesting that teachers and material developers should integrate technology into the language learning process.
110 citations
TL;DR: This study investigates whether the presence of a social robot and interaction with it raises children’s interest in science and shows that even though Robovie did not influence the science curiosity of the entire class, there were individual increases in the children who asked Robovie science questions.
Abstract: This study investigates whether the presence of a social robot and interaction with it raises children’s interest in science. We placed Robovie, our social robot, in an elementary school science class where children could freely interact with it during their breaks. Robovie was tele-operated and its behaviors were designed to answer any questions related to science. It encouraged the children to ask about science by initiating conversations about class topics. Our result shows that even though Robovie did not influence the science curiosity of the entire class, there were individual increases in the children who asked Robovie science questions.
99 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that German respondents have neutral attitudes toward education robots, and the data support the notion of relative reluctance to engage in learning processes that include robots.
Abstract: Previous research on attitudes toward robots has emphasized the aspect of cultural differences regarding the acceptance of social robots in everyday life. Existing work has also focused on the importance of various other factors (e.g., demographic variables, interest in science and technology, prior robot experience) that predict robot acceptance. Specific robot types like service or healthcare robots have also been investigated. Nevertheless, more research is needed to substantiate the empirical evidence on the role of culture, robot type, and other predictors when researching attitudes toward robots. We did so by conducting a survey on attitudes toward education robots in the German context. Besides, in the present research, we investigated predictors of attitudes toward education robots. Contrary to previous findings, our results suggest that German respondents have neutral attitudes toward education robots. However, our data support the notion of relative reluctance to engage in learning processes that include robots. Regarding demographic variables and personality dispositions, our results show that gender, age, need for cognition , and technology commitment significantly predicted people’s attitudes. Concerning potential areas of application, respondents could picture using education robots in domains related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and rejected education robots in fields of arts and social sciences.
98 citations
TL;DR: The study showed the potential that teaching children with autism about body parts and appropriate physical interaction using a humanoid robot has, and highlighted the issues of scenario development, data collection and data analysis that will inform future studies.
Abstract: In this article we describe a human–robot interaction study, focusing on tactile aspects of interaction, in which children with autism interacted with the child-like humanoid robot KASPAR. KASPAR was equipped with touch sensors in order to be able to distinguish gentle from harsh touch, and to respond accordingly. The study investigated a novel scenario for robot-assisted play, with the goal to increase body awareness of children with autism spectrum condition (hereafter ASC) by teaching them how to identify human body parts, and to promote a triadic relationship between the child, the robot and the experimenter. Data obtained from the video analysis of the experimental sessions showed that children treated KASPAR as an object of shared attention with the experimenter, and performed more gentle touches on the robot along the sessions. The children also learned to identify body parts. The study showed the potential that teaching children with autism about body parts and appropriate physical interaction using a humanoid robot has, and highlighted the issues of scenario development, data collection and data analysis that will inform future studies.
93 citations
TL;DR: This research studied the combined and individual contribution of these two persuasive strategies (gestures and gazing) on the persuasiveness of a storytelling robot and presented evidence a robot’s persuAsiveness is increased when gazing is used.
Abstract: Earlier theorizing suggested that an (artificial) agent that combines persuasive strategies will be more persuasive. Therefore, the current research investigated whether a robot that uses two persuasive strategies is more persuasive than a robot that uses only one. Two crucial persuasive strategies that humans use in face-to-face persuasion are gazing and gestures, and therefore we studied the combined and individual contribution of these two persuasive strategies (gestures and gazing) on the persuasiveness of a storytelling robot. A robot told a classical persuasive story about the consequences of lying to forty-eight participants, and was programmed to use (persuasive) gestures (or not) and gazing (or not). Next, we asked participants to evaluate the character in the story thereby assessing the robot’s persuasiveness. Results presented evidence a robot’s persuasiveness is increased when gazing is used. When the robot used gestures, its persuasiveness only increased when it also used gazing. When the robot did not use gazing, using gestures diminished the robot’s persuasiveness. We discuss the implications for theory and design of robots that are more persuasive.
92 citations
TL;DR: The present article proposes “affective developmental robotics,” which provides more authentic artificial empathy based on the concept of cognitive developmental robotics (hereafter, CDR), and a conceptual model of artificial empathy is proposed based on an ADR/CDR viewpoint.
Abstract: The design of artificial empathy is one of the most essential issues in social robotics This is because empathic interactions with ordinary people are needed to introduce robots into our society Several attempts have been made for specific situations However, such attempts have provided several limitations; thus, diminishing authenticity The present article proposes “affective developmental robotics (hereafter, ADR),” which provides more authentic artificial empathy based on the concept of cognitive developmental robotics (hereafter, CDR) First, the evolution and development of empathy as revealed in neuroscience and biobehavioral studies are reviewed, moving from emotional contagion to envy and schadenfreude These terms are then reconsidered from the ADR/CDR viewpoint, particularly along the developmental trajectory of self-other cognition Next, a conceptual model of artificial empathy is proposed based on an ADR/CDR viewpoint and discussed with respect to several existing studies Finally, a general discussion and proposals for addressing future issues are given
TL;DR: This study investigated how initial perceptions of robots are influenced by the extent of human-likeness of the robot’s face, particularly when the robot is intended to provide assistance with tasks in the home that are traditionally carried out by humans.
Abstract: Ample research in social psychology has highlighted the importance of the human face in human-human interactions. However, there is a less clear understanding of how a humanoid robot's face is perceived by humans. One of the primary goals of this study was to investigate how initial perceptions of robots are influenced by the extent of human-likeness of the robot's face, particularly when the robot is intended to provide assistance with tasks in the home that are traditionally carried out by humans. Moreover, although robots have the potential to help both younger and older adults, there is limited knowledge of whether the two age groups' perceptions differ. In this study, younger (N = 32) and older adults (N = 32) imagined interacting with a robot in four different task contexts and rated robot faces of varying levels of human-likeness. Participants were also interviewed to assess their reasons for particular preferences. This multi-method approach identified patterns of perceptions across different appearances as well as reasons that influence the formation of such perceptions. Overall, the results indicated that people's perceptions of robot faces vary as a function of robot human-likeness. People tended to over-generalize their understanding of humans to build expectations about a human-looking robot's behavior and capabilities. Additionally, preferences for humanoid robots depended on the task although younger and older adults differed in their preferences for certain humanoid appearances. The results of this study have implications both for advancing theoretical understanding of robot perceptions and for creating and applying guidelines for the design of robots.
TL;DR: The video-assisted ethnographic study of persons with dementia shows that PARO is deployed performatively as an occasion for communication and as an interlocutor, and, on the other, it is applied as an observation instrument.
Abstract: Much has been written—not least in this journal—about the potential, the benefits, and the risks of social robotics Our paper is based on the social constructivist perspective that what a technology actually is can be decided only when it is applied Using as an exemplar the robot baby seal PARO, which is deployed in Germany mainly as activation therapy for elderly people with dementia, we begin by briefly explaining why it is by no means clear at the beginning of the development phase what a technology is actually going to be Rather, this is established in the light of, and in coordination with, the context of application We then present some preliminary results from our ongoing study of the way in which this social robot is applied by professional care workers in a nursing home for the elderly The underlying theoretical assumption on which our study is based is that the appearance and the performative deployment of a technical artifact are interdependent Only in combination with experiences—the experiences of others, imparted in diverse forms as knowledge, and first-hand experience of using the technology—are the design and the technical functionality of the device of relevance to its appearance, that is, to what it is regarded as being Our video-assisted ethnographic study of persons with dementia shows that, on the one hand, PARO is deployed performatively as an occasion for communication and as an interlocutor, and, on the other, it is applied as an observation instrument
TL;DR: The aim of this work is to find out the cognitive bases of familiarity, analyzing the origin of anthropomorphic projection, namely human disposition to attribute anthropomorphic features - like intentions or feelings—to artifacts.
Abstract: Humans may react very differently with respect to mechanical devices, including robots. They can interact with them with delight or retreat in aversion or fear. According to the famous model of the uncanny valley these opposite reactions depend on the degree of familiarity that different artifacts engender in humans. The aim of my work is trying to find out the cognitive bases of familiarity, analyzing the origin of anthropomorphic projection, namely human disposition to attribute anthropomorphic features - like intentions or feelings—to artifacts. I shall discuss two concepts: relatedness and empathy, and argue that relatedness is the precondition for empathy. The fact that it is possible to attribute anthropomorphic features virtually to any object shows that resemblance is not the point. Anthropomorphism is a kind of relation that humans establish with an artifact, and in order to comprehend this phenomenon we have to focus on the relational aspect. I shall argue that what we call anthropomorphism is an extension to nonhumans of forms of interactions typical of human communication, i.e. the attribution to an artifact of the position of interlocutor in a possible dialogue. It can be shown that attributing to an artifact the position of interlocutor in a dialogue implies dealing with it as if it were endowed of the features characterizing human mind, i.e. mental states and emotions.
TL;DR: The results indicate that the physical embodiment plays a significant role on improving the children’s performance, engagement and motivation.
Abstract: This paper presents interactive games for sign language tutoring assisted by humanoid robots. The games are specially designed for children with communication impairments. In this study, different robot platforms such as a Nao H25 and a Robovie R3 humanoid robots are used to express a set of chosen signs in Turkish Sign Language using hand and arm movements. Two games involving physically and virtually embodied robots are designed. In the game involving physically embodied robot, the robot is able to communicate with the participant by recognizing colored flashcards through a camera based system and generating a selected subset of signs including motivational facial gestures, in return. A mobile version of the game is also implemented to be used as part of children’s education and therapy for the purpose of teaching signs. The humanoid robot acts as a social peer and assistant in the games to motivate the child, teach a selected set of signs, evaluate the child’s effort, and give appropriate feedback to improve the learning and recognition rate of children. Current paper presents results from the preliminary study with different test groups, where children played with the physical robot platform, R3, and a mobile game incorporating the videos of the robot performing the signs, thus the effect of assistive robot’s embodiment is analyzed within these games. The results indicate that the physical embodiment plays a significant role on improving the children’s performance, engagement and motivation.
TL;DR: This study helps to understand the practical effectiveness of robot’s speech in a public space context, which could inspire the design of hotel-assistive robots.
Abstract: This article presents a study using social robots in a hotel public space. The objective of this study is to investigate people’s response to robot’s different speech. We used humanoid robot NAO for setting up our experiments: (i) A single robot greeted each guest. (ii) A single robot engaged in soliloquy about hotel’s information. (iii) Dual robots had conversations between each other about hotel’s information. In each experiment, hotel guests’ behavior in response to robot’s speech was studied by using four patterns that reflected the level of a guest’s interest to the robot’s speech. With these behavior-patterns, we analyzed the guests’ first and second responses after they encountered with the robot in the hotel. Our study helps to understand the practical effectiveness of robot’s speech in a public space context, which could inspire the design of hotel-assistive robots.
TL;DR: The value of tempered anthropomorphism and zoomorphism are introduced as processes that support communication between humans and machinelike robots, while also ensuring that a sense of the otherness of the machine and respect for its non-human abilities is retained.
Abstract: This paper re-evaluates what constitutes a social robot by analysing how a range of different forms of robot are interpreted as socially aware and communicative. Its argument juxtaposes a critical assessment of the development of humanlike and animal-like robotic companions with a consideration of human relations with machinelike robots in working teams. The paper employs a range of communication theories alongside ideas relating to anthropomorphism and zoomorphism in discussing human–robot interactions. Some traditions of communication theory offer perspectives that support the development of humanlike and animal-like social robots. However, these perspectives have been critiqued within communications scholarship as unethically closed to the possibilities of otherness and difference. This paper therefore reconfigures and extends the use of communication theory to explore how machinelike robots are interpreted by humans as social and communicative others. This involves an analysis of human relations with explosive ordnance disposal robots and with the robotic desk lamp, AUR. The paper positions social robotics research as important in understanding working teams containing humans and robots. In particular, this paper introduces the value of tempered anthropomorphism and zoomorphism as processes that support communication between humans and machinelike robots, while also ensuring that a sense of the otherness of the machine and respect for its non-human abilities is retained.
TL;DR: Robot’s use of gaze can help improve both fluency and subjective experience of the robot-to-human handover interactions, and receivers perceive the robot to be more likeable and anthropomorphic when it looks at their face when it does not.
Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the use of a robot's gazetoimprovethetimingandsubjectiveexperienceofface- to-face robot-to-human handovers. Based on observations of human gaze behaviors during face-to-face human-human handovers, we implement various gaze behaviors on a PR2 humanoid robot. We conducted two consecutive robot-to- human handover studies. Results show that when the robot continually gazes at a projected handover position while handing over an object, the human receivers reach for the object significantly earlier than when the robot looks down, away from the handover location; further, when the robot continually gazes at the receiver's face instead of the handover position, the receivers reach for the object even earlier. When the robot—instead of continually gazing at a location—transitions its gaze from the handover position to the receivers' face, or vice versa, the receivers' reach time did not improve; however, the receivers perceive these gaze transitions to better communicate handover timing than con- tinual gazes. Finally, the receivers perceive the robot to be more likeable and anthropomorphic when it looks at their
TL;DR: This paper describes the user-centered design and evaluation process of a humanoid mobile shopping robot named TOOMAS that assists customers of home improvement stores and reveals that robot-assisted shopping was as effective and satisfactory as conventional shopping.
Abstract: This paper describes the user-centered design and evaluation process of a humanoid mobile shopping robot named TOOMAS that assists customers of home improvement stores. Three separate empirical field studies addressing the robot's usability (according to ISO 9241-11) and acceptability (intention to use) are presented involv- ing N = 343 test persons altogether. The first forma- tive evaluation study (N = 210) addresses the usabil- ity of the robot's article search system. It is demon- strated how several usability problems could be identified and eliminated, leading to significantly more successful article searches. The second formative evaluation study (N = 39) addresses the robot's adaptation to its specific task and role in the home improvement store. Embodi- ment, mobility, voice output, and social behavior were ana-
TL;DR: Older people’s autonomy can be limited in the short term in order to protect their longer-term autonomy, and that even if care robots should primarily be considered as being for healthcare rather than for companionship, they might still be used sensitively so that their interference with the companionship role is minimised.
Abstract: This paper is a discussion of some of the ethical issues relevant to the use of social robots to care for older people in their homes, drawing on qualitative data collected as part of the Acceptable robotiCs COMPanions for AgeiNg Years project. We consider some of the tensions that can be created between older people, their formal (professional) carers, and their informal carers (for example friends or relatives), when a care robot is introduced into the home of an older person. As examples of these tensions, we discuss the use of the care robot as a monitor of older people and carers, for example to ensure older people’s compliance with healthcare regimes, or to police the behaviour of carers to ensure that they are complying with professional guidelines. We also consider the use of care robots in a companionship role for older people, and describe the importance of clearly-delineated roles for care robots. The paper concludes that older people’s autonomy can be limited in the short term in order to protect their longer-term autonomy, and that even if care robots should primarily be considered as being for healthcare rather than for companionship, they might still be used sensitively so that their interference with the companionship role is minimised.
TL;DR: A five-fingered robot platform Robovie R3 is used to express a set of chosen words in Turkish sign language (TSL) using hand and body movements combined with facial expressions to interact with children with communication impairments.
Abstract: This paper presents a socially interactive humanoid robot-assisted system for sign language (SL) tutoring for children with communication impairments by means of imitation-based interaction games. In this study, a five-fingered robot platform Robovie R3 is used to express a set of chosen words in Turkish sign language (TSL) using hand and body movements combined with facial expressions. The robot is able to recognize signs through a RGB-D camera and give vocal, visual and motional (as signs) feedback. The proposed game consists of an introductory phase where participants are introduced to the robot and the signs; an imitation-based learning phase where participants are motivated to imitate the signs demonstrated by the robot, and a test phase where the signs taught in the previous phases are tested within a guessing game. The current paper presents results from the studies with three different test groups. The presented humanoid robot is used as an assistive social companion in the game context using sign language and visual clues to interact with the children. The robot is evaluated according to the participant’s sign recognition ability within different setups. The results indicate that the robot has a significant effect on the sign learning performance of participants.
TL;DR: This article gives an overview of the field focusing on its main characteristics and ongoing transformations, and interprets the latter as precursors to a paradigmatic transition that could significantly change the authors' social ecologies.
Abstract: This article deals with contemporary research aimed at building emotional and empathic robots, and gives an overview of the field focusing on its main characteristics and ongoing transformations. It interprets the latter as precursors to a paradigmatic transition that could significantly change our social ecologies. This shift consists in abandoning the classical view of emotions as essentially individual states, and developing a relational view of emotions, which, as we argue, can create genuinely new emotional and empathic processes—dynamics of “human–robot” affective coordination supporting the development of mixed (human–robot) ecologies.
TL;DR: It is revealed that lexical entrainment, in which a person tends to change her verbal expressions to match those said by her addressee, occurs in interactions between people and a robot when they refer to an object in a shared physical space.
Abstract: This paper reveals that lexical entrainment, in which a person tends to change her verbal expressions to match those said by her addressee, occurs in interactions between people and a robot when they refer to an object in a shared physical space Many studies argue that lexical entrainment is crucial for understanding the principle of human dialogue and the development of the natural language interfaces of artificial media However, few studies of it exist in human robot interaction in which humans and robot share a physical space If lexical entrainment occurs in situations where a physical space is shared with a robot, such findings will contribute to the development of natural language interfaces with social robots We designed experimental tests in which participants refer to an object and a robot confirms it and measured the extent to which the participants repeated the same verbal expressions said by the robot Our subjects tended to adopt both the same verbal expressions and lexical categories as the robot
TL;DR: A human imitation system based on the Aldebaran NAO robot and the Microsoft Kinect, which can mimic the motions of the whole body in real time and is robust and flexible enough to imitate various human motions is proposed.
Abstract: Robots are commonly used in harsh environments where it is difficult for humans to carry out dangerous tasks. Robot imitations provide a natural approach for humanoid robots to mimic the behavior of humans in real time. However, it is never an easy task to build an efficient and robust imitation system because of the high degree of freedom involved in motions. In this paper, we propose a human imitation system based on the Aldebaran NAO robot and the Microsoft Kinect, which can mimic the motions of the whole body in real time. By solving inverse kinematics through an optimization process, motions are split up into critical frames which are represented by a list of robot joint angles. Each joint angle is then derived through the control of the joint motors in NAO. In addition, balance maintenance in both the single and double supporting phases as well as the self-collision avoidance are taken into consideration. Experimental results show that the system is robust and flexible enough to imitate various human motions.
TL;DR: Results show that the human perceptual system is sensitive to subtleties of human behavior, based on only subtle behavioral cues.
Abstract: For efficient social interactions, humans have developed means to predict and understand others’ behavior often with reference to intentions and desires. To infer others’ intentions, however, one must assume that the other is an agent with a mind and mental states. With two experiments, this study examined if the human perceptual system is sensitive to detecting human agents, based on only subtle behavioral cues. Participants observed robots, which performed pointing gestures interchangeably to the left or right with one of their two arms. Onset times of the pointing movements could have been pre-programmed, human-controlled (Experiment 1), or modeled after a human behavior (Experiment 2). The task was to determine if the observed behavior was controlled by a human or by a computer program, without any information about what parameters of behavior this judgment should be based on. Results showed that participants were able to detect human behavior above chance in both experiments. Moreover, participants were asked to discriminate a letter (F/T) presented on the left or the right side of a screen. The letter could have been either validly cued by the robot (location that the robot pointed to coincided with the location of the letter) or invalidly cued (the robot pointed to the opposite location than the letter was presented). In this cueing task, target discrimination was better for the valid versus invalid conditions in Experiment 1 where a human face was presented centrally on a screen throughout the experiment. This effect was not significant in Experiment 2 where participants were exposed only to a robotic face. In sum, present results show that the human perceptual system is sensitive to subtleties of human behavior. Attending to where others attend, however, is modulated not only by adopting the Intentional Stance but also by the way participants interpret the observed stimuli.
TL;DR: Results of a structured questionnaire indicated that form realism only played a modest role in the perception of electro-mechanical robots, and the perceived value of affordances appeared to be crucial for determining engagement and intentions to use social robots.
Abstract: In the near future, human-like social robots will become indispensable for providing support in various social tasks, in particular for healthcare (e.g., assistance, coaching). The perception of realism, in particular human-like features, can help facilitate mediated social interaction. The current study investigated the effects of form realism on engagement with and use intentions of social robot embodiments. We have defined (perceived) form realism as the result of the appraisal of features that are perceived as realistic contrasted with those appraised as unrealistic. To test the effects of form realism, we applied the model of interactively perceiving and experiencing fictional characters (I-PEFiC). I-PEFiC explains how users respond to interactive, fictional, humanoid characters, on social robots. In a within-subjects design, participants (N = 29; Mage = 28.8 years, age range 18–56 years) interacted with three different robots built from LEGO Mindstorms, which differed in their degree of designed form realism. Each robot presented itself as a physiotherapy assistant and requested the participant to do several exercises. Results of a structured questionnaire indicated that form realism only played a modest role in the perception of electro-mechanical robots. Instead, the perception of affordances appeared to be crucial for determining engagement and intentions to use social robots.
TL;DR: A participation state model for measuring communication participation is created and a clear set of guidelines for how to structure a robot’s behavior to start and maintain a conversation based on the model are provided.
Abstract: Consider a situation where a robot initiates a conversation with a person. What is the appropriate timing for such an action? Where is a good position from which to make the initial greeting? In this study, we analyze human interactions and establish a model for a natural way of initiating conversation. Our model mainly involves the participation state and spatial formation. When a person prepares to participate in a conversation and a particular spatial formation occurs, he/she feels that he/she is participating in the conversation; once he/she perceives his/her participation, he/she maintains particular spatial formations. Theories have addressed human communication related to these concepts, but they have only covered situations after people start to talk. In this research, we created a participation state model for measuring communication participation and provided a clear set of guidelines for how to structure a robot’s behavior to start and maintain a conversation based on the model. Our model precisely describes the constraints and expected behaviors for the phase of initiating conversation. We implemented our proposed model in a humanoid robot and conducted both a system evaluation and a user evaluation in a shop scenario experiment. It was shown that good recognition accuracy of interaction state in a conversation was achieved with our proposed model, and the robot implemented with our proposed model was evaluated as best in terms of appropriateness of behaviors and interaction efficiency compared with other two alternative conditions.
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study on legal impacts regarding bipedal humanoid robots in which the materials for the case study come from Waseda University's experiment on WL-16RII and WABIAN-2R at the Fukuoka RT special zone.
Abstract: The unique “Tokku” Special Zone for Robot-ics Empirical Testing and Development (RT special zone) originated in Japan. Since 2003, the world’s first RT special zone had already established in Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka City and Kitakyushu City. At that time, Takanishi Laboratory, Humanoid Robotics Institute of Waseda University had conducted many empirical testing within several different spots of the special zone to evaluate the feasibility for bipedal humanoid robots on public roads from 2004 to 2007. It is also known as the world’s first public roads testing for bipedal robots. The history of RT special zone is merely 10 years long, but there are already many special zones established in Fukuoka, Osaka, Gifu, Kanagawa and Tsukuba. As the development of robotics and its submergence to the society expand, the importance of RT special zone as an interface for robots and society will be more apparent. In this paper, our main focus is to view the impacts of the “Tokku” special zone system to the human-robot co-existence society. We would like to make a systematic review for RT special zone, and further to investigate the relationship between RT special zone, robots and the law through a case study on legal impacts regarding bipedal humanoid robots in which the materials for the case study come from Waseda University’s experiment on WL-16RII and WABIAN-2R at the Fukuoka RT special zone.
TL;DR: The design, development, and application of a parrot-like robot as a screening tool to diagnose autistic children and there are significant differences between autistic and normal children pertaining to their communication with the robot, repetitive behaviors and sustaining attention.
Abstract: Recent research shows that Human Robot Interaction (HRI) can play an important role in the screening and therapy of many disorders, and suggests broad range of applications for children with developmental disorders. This paper presents the design, development, and application of a parrot-like robot as a screening tool to diagnose autistic children. The interactions of several autistic children with the robot have been observed and compared to the interaction of a group of normal children with the robot to determine the important behavioral features separating the autistic children from the normal ones. Based on these observations, we developed a descriptive research methodology to specify important and discriminating features for screening autism using behavioral aspects in social interaction, communication, and stereotyped and repetitive behaviors. Our experiments show that there are significant differences between autistic and normal children pertaining to their communication with the robot, repetitive behaviors and sustaining attention. The results show the effectiveness of using robots in screening developmental disorders such as autism, highlighting the importance of Robot Assisted Screening (RAS) or intelligent toys in this field. We have determined 6 features extracted from the children’s behavior, and Random Forest method is used to distinguish between the autistic and normal children. The system has been tested on 51 children, 35 autistic and 16 normal, with maximum 90 % correct classification rate.
TL;DR: A reliability estimation protocol that makes use of outputs from many systems’ outputs of emotion recognition system’s decision could help to construct a relevant emotional and interactional user profile which could be used to drive the expressive behavior of the robot.
Abstract: The challenge of this study is twofold: recognizing emotions from audio signals in naturalistic Human–Robot Interaction (HRI) environment, and using a cross-dataset recognition for robustness evaluation. The originality of this work lies in the use of six emotional models in parallel, generated using two training corpora and three acoustic feature sets. The models are obtained from two databases collected in different tasks, and a third independent real-life HRI corpus (collected within the ROMEO project—
http://www.projetromeo.com/
) is used for test. As primary results, for the task of four-emotion recognition, and by combining the probabilistic outputs of six different systems in a very simplistic way, we obtained better results compared to the best baseline system. Moreover, to investigate the potential of fusing many systems’ outputs using a “perfect” fusion method, we calculate the oracle performance (oracle considers a correct prediction if at least one of the systems outputs a correct prediction). The obtained oracle score is 73 % while the auto-coherence score on the same corpus (i.e. performance obtained by using the same data for training and for testing) is about 57 %. We experiment a reliability estimation protocol that makes use of outputs from many systems. Such reliability measurement of an emotion recognition system’s decision could help to construct a relevant emotional and interactional user profile which could be used to drive the expressive behavior of the robot.