Field Trial Approach for Communication Robots

Speaker
Takayuki Kanda
Senior Research Scientist, ATR Intelligent Robotics & Communication Labs

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)

Description

Over the past several years, many humanoid robots have been developed, and they can typically make sophisticated human-like expressions with their head and arms. We believe that humanoid robots will be suitable for communicating with people. The human-like bodies of humanoid robots enable humans to intuitively understand their gestures and cause people to unconsciously behave as if they were communicating with humans. In the future, we believe that these robots will behave as peer-partners to support daily human activities based on advanced communication capabilities. We are developing such a “communication robot”. We studied bodily interaction between humans and the robot in a laboratory environment, where we found the importance of cooperative behaviors. Moreover, the developed robots were applied in daily situations, such as elementary schools, a science museum, and a train station. Through these field trials, we have revealed possible applications and current problems. This talk describes the lessons learned from these previous studies and an approach for communication robots that work in such a daily situation.

Speaker's Bio

Takayuki Kanda is a Senior Research Scientist at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan. He received his B. Eng, M. Eng, and Ph. D. degrees in computer science from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, in 1998, 2000, and 2003, respectively. He is one of the starting members of Communication Robots project at ATR. He has developed a communication robot, Robovie, and applied it in daily situations, such as peer-tutor at elementary school and a museum exhibit guide. His research interests include human-robot interaction, interactive humanoid robots, and field trials.

Speaker's Website
http://www.irc.atr.jp/~kanda/

Host
Jodi Forlizzi