Spontaneous, Short-Term Interaction with Mobile Robots

Human-robot interaction has been identified as one of the major open research directions in mobile robotics. This paper considers a specific type of interaction: short-term and spontaneous interaction with crowds of people. Such patterns of interactions are found when service robots operate in public places, for example information kiosks, receptionists, tour-guide robots applications. We describe our approach to spontaneous short-term interaction: a robot designed to be a believable social agent. The approach has been implemented using a mobile robot with a motorized face as focal point for interaction, an architecture that suggests the robot has moods, and a method for learning how to interact with people. Our system was recently deployed at a Smithsonian museum in Washington, DC. During a two week period it interacted with thousands of people. The robot's interactive capabilities were essential for its high on-task performance, and thus its practical success.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1999
• Where: ICRA
• Authors: Jamieson Schulte, Charles R. Rosenberg, Sebastian Thrun
• Keywords: Human-robot Interaction, ICRA 1999, Robot, Robotics, Spontaneous Short-term Interaction