HC1 - Observe People Interacting with a Robot
History of Robots
Inventor ‘word’ = Josef Capek
Inventor concept = Karel Capek
The first robots were invented in China years before Christ. Most of the robots were made for
entertainment or had a simple practical function/purpose. A lot of ideas for robots were
already produced/thought of a long time ago, but got updated and more advanced over the
years.
,Chess playing machine (1770) – Kempelen Farkas (Hungarian)
Hid a human chess player inside. Fooled people for 84 years. ‘’Mechanic Turk’’.
Nowaday version of the mechanical turk
Hiroshi Ishiguro
Henri Maillardet (1800)– Automaton poem writer
Fully automated
Alan Turing (1950)
Arch-father of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
In WW II, broke German naval Enigma machine for encryption of commands and intel with
self-devised electronic mechanical machine
TURNING Machine!!
Fully automated
Model of general purpose computer that can run any modern-day algorithm.
‘Tape’ or memory moves left or right over three symbols: 1, 0 and blank, whichi initiate
certain commands.
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,Types of robots
Human Driven
Teleoperation = the electronic remote control of machines
Humans control the robot. Men pay no attention behind the curtain (Mechanical turk)
AI driven
Deep learning machine → programmed to do tasks.
Agency
- Pursues goals or has concerns
- Intentionality (sets it apart from water, wind, and stones)
- Organic system (plant, animal, human) or
- Artificial system (commonly software)
- Potentially capable of acting autonomously, at least in part
Free will
- Not a prerequisite
- Behavior may be determined by circumstances (cf. slavery)
- Autonomic nervous system (regulates glands and internal organs) is hardly controllable
consciously. Yet, does pursue goal of maintenance and continuity of the organism it is a part
of
Definitions
Software agent = Agency simulated by (semi) autonomous (zelfbesturend) software system
Robot = Software agent (inter)acting through electromechanical devices
Social robot or Android = Robot specialized in humanoid simulations (not of other
organisms)
Care Robot / Tutor robot = Social robot (android) applied to healthcare or education.
Example description robot type
Turning machine = automated + algortim
Mechanical Turk = Human operated
Singularity = Robot is better than human being
Automaton of Maillardet = robot programmed for a task
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,Article 1: Using a robot to personalise health education for children with diabetes type 1
The child–robot interaction is based on an integrated system comprising different modules.
These modules are: a dialogue model, user model and reasoning engine, a memory, and
sensors for automatic speech and gesture recognition. In addition, the architecture includes
different child–robot activities, such as playing a quiz, a dance or an imitation game.
Experiment
Two groups: personal robot and neutral robot (control group).
Self-determination theory/SDT (Zelfbeschikking/vrije wil)
Players of all types seek to satisfy particular psychological needs in the context of play. In
their efforts to understanding better what makes games ‘‘fun’’, Ryan et al. have used this
framework to explain the motivational ‘‘pull’’ of video games. SDT suggests that intrinsic
motivation (iets graag willen) is the core type of motivation underlying play in general.
• Psychological needs in context of play
Autonomy: refers to the sense of volition (wilskracht) or willingness when doing a task
Competence (bekwaam): the need for a challenge and the feeling of effectance.
Relatedness (verbondenheid): is experienced when a person feels connected with others.
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,Article 2: The role of healthcare robots for older people at home
A healthcare robot is a robot with the aim of promoting or monitoring health, assisting with
tasks that are difficult to perform due to health problems or preventing further health decline.
• Rehabilitation robots
Physically assistive devices that are not primarily communicative or perceived as social
entities. Their job is to perform a physical task or make a task easier for the user.
• Social robots
An easily understood and likable interface for older people to interact with and/or acts as a
companion. Social robots can also help a person perform a task to improve day-to-day life.
(categorized in companionship robots or service type robots)
Example
Problem: For older people loss of independence and mobility can be difficult to cope with
and contribute to poor quality of life.
Solutions: To monitor health and in case of a fall many older people wear alert bracelets
where they can push a button to call for emergency help.
Article 3: Interactions with Robots – The truth we reveal about ourselves
Healthcare robots
Robots are being made to assist with physical tasks (e.g., walking, fetching and carrying, and
bathing), cognitive issues (e.g., reminding and playing memory games), health management
(e.g., monitoring blood pressure, detecting falls, and encouraging exercise), and psychosocial
issues (e.g., providing companionship and entertainment).
• Paro
a Japanese companion robot shaped like a baby harp seal, which can move and make seal
noises in response to touch, light, noise, and orientation → for use in rest homes for
companionship and in dementia care for therapy.
• iRobi and Cafero
Are used to remind people to take their medications, take blood pressure measurements and
pulse oximetry, and provide entertainment and cognitive stimulation.
Telerobotics
Teleoperated robots can be used in harsh environments such as space or the sea, for distant
communication between people in business teleconferencing, or in telemedicine for specialist
doctors to visit patients remotely in a hospital or at home.
Education robots
Robots can be used as a tool through which technical skills can be learned, can act as a peer
by providing encouragement, or can function as teachers.
Definitions
Humanoid: a robot that has a body shape similar to a human, usually with a head, torso, arms,
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,and legs
Android: a robot with a human appearance (but not that of a specific individual)
Geminoid: teleoperated robot that is built to resemble a specific human individual
Wizard of Oz: a situation in which people interact with a robot that they think is autonomous
but that is secretly being operated by another person
Telenoid: a teleoperated robot designed to have minimal characteristics of a human, usually
ageless and genderless with a head, torso, and short limbs
Anthropomorphism refers to our tendency to see humanlike characteristics, emotions, and
motivations in nonhuman entities such as animals, gods, and objects (Epley et al. 2007).
Anthropomor- phism can be conceptualized and measured in different ways—from a simple
rating of humanlike- ness on a single-dimension scale to broader and less concrete
conceptualizations including mind, emotionality, intention, consciousness, and free will
HC2 – Observational studies
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,Article: Observational Study of Naturalistic Interactions with the Socially
Assistive Robot PARO in a Nursing Home
PARO Robot
• A social assistive robot (SARs)
• Responds to sound, light and touch through movement and vocalizations.
Is able to change position and react to human intraction.
• Used as a social companion: therapy or older adults (dementia)
• Inspired by Pet therapy
• PARO was a cat first, but people are too familiar with cats. A seal is less predicatable.
Technical set-up
• Behaviors that lead to petting (which are repeated)
• Sensors for: touch, balance light
• Microphones for: touch, sound, position changes (hugging)
• Responds by moving (its tail and head) and by sounds
• Battery charger looks like a baby pacifier (speen/baby)
PAR affects the behavior of older adults in multiple direct (touch, speech) and indirect (e.g.
gaze) interaction modalities, and that the social and physical environment have significant
effects on the development and maintenance of interaction with PARO.
• Used to improve communication and sociability and reduce aggression and wandering
among patients.
Results
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,Reactions
• Lots of Non-physical interactions: looking, taking about it, smiling
• Less frequent physical: less petting, ignoring
• Overall everybody is ignoring PARO. Staff the most because they are to busy with
other tasks
• Visitors talk the most about PARO. But visited mostly private rooms.
• Residents/older people have the least contact with PARO. They cannot see or hear it.
Or felt ‘not worth’ to play with it.
Article: Social Engagement in public places
CASA theory (Computers are social actors)
It claims that people will respond to a computer as a social partner, provided appropriate
social cues are produced by the computer. This powerful concept extends to robotics as well,
and it has been shown that human-like, social non-verbal behaviors can be advantageous in a
robot.
→ in short: the more human-like, the more social responses.
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, Social cues: the presence of nonverbal bodily cues, such as gestures (gebaren) and gaze (blik),
increased a robot’s persuasiveness (Chimdabra, Chiang & Mutlu)
→ people respond better to a human-look-like robot (humanoid)?
Octavia Robot
Designed for human- robot interaction as an upper-
body humanoid on a two-wheel Segway base, sized
similarly to a larger adult. Octavia has a total of 41
DoFs (Degrees of Freedom), allowing a wide
variety of human-like gestures and facial
expressions
Information/story = no impact on people to stay
Traffic = more people stayed to watch the robot
Level of Social cues = overall impact
Full engagement: The number of people who
listened to the entire story increases with higher
levels of Social Cues; no difference between Story
Types is observed.
Partial engagement: Partial Engagement. The
number of people who attended to Octavia’s story-
telling for 15+ seconds increases with higher levels
of Social Cues; no difference between Story Types
is observed.
Idle situation: for the full engagement/particial measure, fewer people watched the robot for a
full minute when it was idle than when it was telling a joke or being informative.
Findings
• Minimal social cues invoke more engagement that no social cues (idle)
• More human-like behavior led to more social engagement
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