Communication with Robots

(Information Science Expert) Lecture on Robots

• #human_robot_interaction

• Examples: Aibo, Pepper

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

  • It was believed that humans should not empathize with robots as they were just tools.
  • Has the field’s perspective changed due to examples like Aibo?

• Empathy towards Robots

  • Even with robots having simple mechanisms (behavioral norms), they may appear intelligent to humans.
    • For example, thinking that a Roomba is “working hard.”
  • How can empathy be induced?
    • Conditions
    • Methods
      • Autonomous generation of diverse behaviors
      • Morphology similar to living beings (utilizing human prior knowledge)
      • Selection of input/output information
      • Diverse human interpretations (ambiguous meanings of actions)
        • For example, even if there is a robot that simply maintains a constant distance,
        • Approaching may seem like it is “running away,” and moving back may seem like it is “chasing.”
        • “Entrust Behavior”

• Challenges in researching emotions towards robots

  • Psychological evaluation of emotional models: Difficult to obtain reproducible results
  • Even if results are obtained, applying them to robot design is challenging