Communication with Robots

(Information Science Guru) Lecture on Robots

• #human_robot_interaction

• Examples: Aibo, Pepper

• In the past, the concept of studying communication between humans and robots was not very common.

  • It was thought that robots should not be empathized with as mere tools.
  • Has the thinking in this field changed due to examples like Aibo?

• Empathy towards Robots

  • Even simple robots with basic mechanisms (Behavioral Norms) can appear intelligent to humans.
    • For example, people may think that the Roomba is “working hard”.
  • How can we induce empathy towards robots?

    • Conditions

    • Robustness

    • No limitation on interfaces

    • Methods

      • Independent and diverse behavior generation
      • Use of humanoid forms (utilizing human prior knowledge)
      • Selection of input/output information
      • Diverse interpretations by humans (ambiguous meanings of actions)
        • For example, even if there is a robot that simply maintains a constant distance,
        • Approaching it may make it appear as if it is “running away”, and moving back may make it appear as if it is “chasing” you.
        • “Entrust Behavior”

• Challenges in studying emotions towards robots

  • Psychological evaluation of emotion models: Obtaining reproducible results is difficult.
  • Even if results are obtained, it is challenging to apply them effectively in robot design.