Cooperative social robots: accompanying, guiding and interacting with people

The development of social robots capable of interacting with humans is one of the principal challenges in the field of robotics. More and more, robots are appearing in dynamic environments, like pedestrian walkways, universities, and hospitals; for this reason, their interaction with people must be conducted in a natural, gradual, and cordial manner, given that their function could be aid, or assist people. Therefore, navigation and interaction among humans in these environments are key skills that future generations of robots will require to have. Additionally, robots must also be able to cooperate with each other, if necessary. This dissertation examines these various challenges and describes the development of a set of techniques that allow robots to interact naturally with people in their environments, as they guide or accompany humans in urban zones. In this sense, the robots' movements are inspired by the persons' actions and gestures, determination of appropriate personal space, and the rules of common social convention. The first issue this thesis tackles is the development of an innovative robot-companion approach based on the newly founded Extended Social-Forces Model. We evaluate how people navigate and we formulate a set of virtual social forces to describe robot's behavior in terms of motion. Moreover, we introduce a robot companion analytical metric to effectively evaluate the system. This assessment is based on the notion of "proxemics" and ensures that the robot's navigation is socially acceptable by the person being accompanied, as well as to other pedestrians in the vicinity. Through a user study, we show that people interpret the robot's behavior according to human social norms. In addition, a new framework for guiding people in urban areas with a set of cooperative mobile robots is presented. The proposed approach offers several significant advantages, as compared with those outlined in prior studies. Firstly, it allows a group of people to be guided within both open and closed areas; secondly, it uses several cooperative robots; and thirdly, it includes features that enable the robots to keep people from leaving the crowd group, by approaching them in a friendly and safe manner. At the core of our approach, we propose a "Discrete Time Motion" model, which works to represent human and robot motions, to predict people's movements, so as to plan a route and provide the robots with concrete motion instructions. After, this thesis goes one step forward by developing the "Prediction and Anticipation Model". This model enables us to determine the optimal distribution of robots for preventing people from straying from the formation in specific areas of the map, and thus to facilitate the task of the robots. Furthermore, we locally optimize the work performed by robots and people alike, and thereby yielding a more human-friendly motion. Finally, an autonomous mobile robot capable of interacting to acquire human-assisted learning is introduced. First, we present different robot behaviors to approach a person and successfully engage with him/her. On the basis of this insight, we furnish our robot with a simple visual module for detecting human faces in real-time. We observe that people ascribe different personalities to the robot depending on its different behaviors. Once contact is initiated, people are given the opportunity to assist the robot to improve its visual skills. After this assisted learning stage, the robot is able to detect people by using the enhanced visual methods. Both contributions are extensively and rigorously tested in real environments. As a whole, this thesis demonstrates the need for robots that are able to operate acceptably around people; to behave in accordance with social norms while accompanying and guiding them. Furthermore, this work shows that cooperation amongst a group of robots optimizes the performance of the robots and people as well.El desenvolupament de robots socials capaços d'interactuar amb els éssers humans és un dels principals reptes en el camp de la robòtica. Actualment, els robots comencen a aparèixer en entorns dinàmics, com zones de vianants, universitats o hospitals; per aquest motiu, aquesta interacció ha de realitzar-se de manera natural, progressiva i cordial, ja que la seva utilització pot ser col.laboració, assistència o ajuda a les persones. Per tant, la navegació i la interacció amb els humans, en aquests entorns, són habilitats importants que les futures generacions de robots han de posseir, a més a més, els robots han de ser aptes de cooperar entre ells si fos requerit. El present treball estudia aquests reptes plantejats. S’han desenvolupat un conjunt de tècniques que permeten als robots interectuar de manera natural amb les persones i el seu entorn, mentre que guien o acompanyen als humans en zones urbanes. En aquest sentit, el moviment dels robots s’inspira en la manera com es mouen els humans en les convenvions socials, així com l’espai personal.El primer punt que aquesta tesi comprèn és el desenvolupament d’un nou mètode per a "robots-acompanyants" basat en el nou model estès de forces socials. S’ha evaluat com es mouen les persones i s’han formulat un conjunt de forces socials virtuals que descriuren el comportament del robot en termes de moviments. Aquesta evaluació es basa en el concepte de “proxemics” i assegura que la navegació del robot està socialment acceptada per la persona que està sent acompanyada i per la gent que es troba a l’entorn. Per mitjà d’un estudi social, mostrem que els humans interpreten el comportament del robot d’acord amb les normes socials. Així mateix, un nou sistema per a guiar a persones en zones urbanes amb un conjunt de robots mòbils que cooperen és presentat. El model proposat ofereix diferents avantatges comparat amb treballs anteriors. Primer, es permet a un grup de persones ser guiades en entorns oberts o amb alta densitat d’obstacles; segon, s’utilitzen diferents robots que cooperen; tercer, els robots són capaços de reincorporar a la formació les persones que s’han allunyat del grup anteriorment de manera segura. La base del nostre enfocament es basa en el nou model anomenat “Discrete Time Motion”, el qual representa els movimients dels humans i els robots, prediu el comportament de les persones, i planeja i proporciona una ruta als robots.Posteriorment, aquesta tesi va un pas més enllà amb el desenvolupament del model “Prediction and Anticipation Model”. Aquest model ens permet determinar la distribució òptima de robots per a prevenir que les persones s’allunyin del grup en zones especíıfiques del mapa, i per tant facilitar la tasca dels robots. A més, s’optimitza localment el treball realitzat pels robots i les persones, produint d’aquesta manera un moviment més amigable. Finalment, s’introdueix un robot autònom mòbil capaç d’interactuar amb les persones per realitzar un aprenentatge assistit. Incialment, es presenten diferents comportaments del robot per apropar-se a una persona i crear un víıncle amb ell/ella. Basant-nos en aquesta idea, un mòdul visual per a la detecció de cares humanes en temps real va ser proporcionat al robot. Hem observat que les persones atribueixen diferents personalitats al robot en funció dels seus diferents comportaments. Una vegada que el contacte va ser iniciat es va donar l’oportunitat als voluntaris d’ajudar al robot per a millorar les seves habilitats visuals. Després d’aquesta etapa d’aprenentatge assistit, el robot va ser capaç d’identificar a les persones mitjançant l'ús de mètodes visuals.En resum, aquesta tesi presenta i demostra la necessitat de robots que siguin capaços d’operar de forma acceptable amb la gent i que es comportin d’acord amb les normes socials mentres acompanyen o guien a persones. Per altra banda, aquest treball mostra que la coperació entre un grup de robots pot optimitzar el rendiment tant dels robots com dels humans

Nonlinear Dynamics

This volume covers a diverse collection of topics dealing with some of the fundamental concepts and applications embodied in the study of nonlinear dynamics. Each of the 15 chapters contained in this compendium generally fit into one of five topical areas: physics applications, nonlinear oscillators, electrical and mechanical systems, biological and behavioral applications or random processes. The authors of these chapters have contributed a stimulating cross section of new results, which provide a fertile spectrum of ideas that will inspire both seasoned researches and students

Transformative Technology: Staff Perceptions, Attitudes, And Behaviors Related To The Use Of Learning Management Transformative Technologies

This qualitative case study examined how the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of staff relate to the effective use of transformative learning management technologies to support personalized/customized learning. Additionally, this study sought to understand the stories of individuals using the learning management system Empower as staff transformed to a personalized/customized culture. The conceptual framework focused on the disruptive technology necessary for personalized/customized learning. Fifteen participants engaged in open-ended interviews, observations, sharing of artifacts, and the data was analyzed through coding transcripts into themes and summary concepts. The goal of the research was to analyze teacher experiences and perceptions using Empower to support personalized/customized learning. Key findings of the research indicate that the effective use of Empower revolves around participant engagement, planning and experiences. One key finding of the research was that pre-work is critical to the success of technology in order to support effective use. A foundational first step must include ensuring a viable and valid structure of learning progressions for each content area, with attention to processes that take into account complex reasoning, and habits of mind and work. The study also concludes that providing practitioners with deeply meaningful learning experiences, personalized supports, and restructured planning time is crucial to sustainability and must be on-going. It is essential that all practitioners have a solid understanding of instructional design in a blended learning model. Furthermore, time needs to be leveraged differently for practitioners and students. The time-based fixed structures limit the practicality of implementing all aspects of a personalized/customized learning model. The technology problems need to be rectified in a timely manner and better communication about technology use is essential. Teachers can’t wait for days for the technology to be made functional. They are working live with students and need the technology to be up and running smoothly at all times. Highly effective communication to all stakeholders, especially the parent/guardian group, is a critical need for the successful and sustainable impact of Empower or other learning management systems on personalized/customized learning. The role of leadership is foundational and essential to the implementation of Empower. Leadership, meaning from the board and superintendent level to the building level leaders and curriculum leaders, has to create the conditions for success of the practitioners and learners

Relatedness and Alienation in Interpersonal Understanding: A Phenomenological Account

This thesis aims to provide a phenomenological exploration of relatedness and alienation in interpersonal understanding, which elucidates and supports recent interdisciplinary critiques of more traditional accounts of interpersonal understanding. Orthodox accounts of folk psychology, namely theory and simulation theories, have focused on the role of attributing mental states in understanding others. This focus has led to a neglect of how interaction and forms of relatedness contribute to the task of interpersonal understanding. Building on recent interdisciplinary research, my work aims to rectify this neglect through an exploration of how various forms of relations, particularly interactive relations between interlocutors, support interpersonal understanding. My account, therefore, emphasises understanding as a shared process, moving away from the spectatorial orientation of the orthodox accounts. My approach is distinctive in its use of Gadamerian hermeneutics to offer a novel and detailed account of the central role played by collaborative refinement of interpretative presuppositions. Examining face-to-face interaction, it becomes apparent that affective interactions often frame and underpin an ability to attribute mental states. I explore how, in conversational instances of interpersonal relatedness, understanding involves a continual collaborative refinement of interpretive presuppositions, resulting in a modification of understanding. From this my work broadens, taking into account how reciprocal embodied expression, space, and stance tacitly support an ability to relate to and understand others, in virtue of jointly inhabiting mutually meaningful social situations. To clarify the ways in which affective interaction and shared situation are partly constitutive of ability to understand others, I consider impaired forms of interpersonal understanding in the illnesses schizophrenia and depression. Examination of these instances highlights the central role held by an ability to dynamically engage and inhabit relations with others

The end has no end: framing death and the phenomenology of dying in documentary cinema

In a world denying and deconstructing mortality, the intersection between the phenomenology of image and death and the phenomenology of time consciousness seems to call for new attention in contemporary media culture. The recurrent motif of death in fictive film narratives is opposed to its far more complex and controversial counterpart in documentary cinema.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Machine Performers: Agents in a Multiple Ontological State

In this thesis, the author explores and develops new attributes for machine performers and merges the trans-disciplinary fields of the performing arts and artificial intelligence. The main aim is to redefine the term “embodiment” for robots on the stage and to demonstrate that this term requires broadening in various fields of research. This redefining has required a multifaceted theoretical analysis of embodiment in the field of artificial intelligence (e.g. the uncanny valley), as well as the construction of new robots for the stage by the author. It is hoped that these practical experimental examples will generate more research by others in similar fields. Even though the historical lineage of robotics is engraved with theatrical strategies and dramaturgy, further application of constructive principles from the performing arts and evidence from psychology and neurology can shift the perception of robotic agents both on stage and in other cultural environments. In this light, the relation between representation, movement and behaviour of bodies has been further explored to establish links between constructed bodies (as in artificial intelligence) and perceived bodies (as performers on the theatrical stage). In the course of this research, several practical works have been designed and built, and subsequently presented to live audiences and research communities. Audience reactions have been analysed with surveys and discussions. Interviews have also been conducted with choreographers, curators and scientists about the value of machine performers. The main conclusions from this study are that fakery and mystification can be used as persuasive elements to enhance agency. Morphologies can also be applied that tightly couple brain and sensorimotor actions and lead to a stronger stage presence. In fact, if this lack of presence is left out of human replicants, it causes an “uncanny” lack of agency. Furthermore, the addition of stage presence leads to stronger identification from audiences, even for bodies dissimilar to their own. The author demonstrates that audience reactions are enhanced by building these effects into machine body structures: rather than identification through mimicry, this causes them to have more unambiguously biological associations. Alongside these traits, atmospheres such as those created by a cast of machine performers tend to cause even more intensely visceral responses. In this thesis, “embodiment” has emerged as a paradigm shift – as well as within this shift – and morphological computing has been explored as a method to deepen this visceral immersion. Therefore, this dissertation considers and builds machine performers as “true” performers for the stage, rather than mere objects with an aura. Their singular and customized embodiment can enable the development of non-anthropocentric performances that encompass the abstract and conceptual patterns in motion and generate – as from human performers – empathy, identification and experiential reactions in live audiences

Investigando Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) : tecnologias e interação em contexto de acessibilidade

Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani BaranauskasTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) representam um novo paradigma de interação, com a promessa de ser mais intuitivo e fácil de usar do que seu antecessor, que utiliza mouse e teclado. Em um contexto no qual as tecnologias estão cada vez mais invisíveis e pervasivas, não só a quantidade mas também a diversidade de pessoas que participam deste contexto é crescente. Nesse caso, é preciso estudar como esse novo paradigma de interação de fato consegue ser acessível a todas as pessoas que podem utilizá-lo no dia-a-dia. Ademais, é preciso também caracterizar o paradigma em si, para entender o que o torna, de fato, natural. Portanto, nesta tese apresentamos o caminho que percorremos em busca dessas duas respostas: como caracterizar NUIs, no atual contexto tecnológico, e como tornar NUIs acessíveis para todos. Para tanto, primeiro apresentamos uma revisão sistemática de literatura com o estado da arte. Depois, mostramos um conjunto de heurísticas para o design e a avaliação de NUIs, que foram aplicadas em estudos de caso práticos. Em seguida, estruturamos as ideias desta pesquisa dentro dos artefatos da Semiótica Organizacional, e obtivemos esclarecimentos sobre como fazer o design de NUIs com Acessibilidade, seja por meio de Design Universal, seja para propor Tecnologias Assistivas. Depois, apresentamos três estudos de caso com sistemas NUI cujo design foi feito por nós. A partir desses estudos de caso, expandimos nosso referencial teórico e conseguimos, por fim, encontrar três elementos que resumem a nossa caracterização de NUI: diferenças, affordances e enaçãoAbstract: Natural User Interfaces (NUIs) represent a new interaction paradigm, with the promise of being more intuitive and easy to use than its predecessor, that utilizes mouse and keyboard. In a context where technology is becoming each time more invisible and pervasive, not only the amount but also the diversity of people who participate in this context is increasing. In this case, it must be studied how this new interaction paradigm can, in fact, be accessible to all the people who may use it on their daily routine. Furthermore, it is also necessary to characterize the paradigm itself, to understand what makes it, in fact, natural. Therefore, in this thesis we present the path we took in search of these two answers: how to characterize NUIs in the current technological context, and how to make NUIs accessible to all. To do so, first we present a systematic literature review with the state of the art. Then, we show a set of heuristics for the design and evaluation of NUIs, which were applied in practical study cases. Afterwards, we structure the ideas of this research into the Organizational Semiotics artifacts, and we obtain insights into how to design NUIs with Accessibility, be it through Universal Design, be it to propose Assistive Technologies. Then, we present three case studies with NUI systems which we designed. From these case studies, we expanded our theoretical references were able to, finally, find three elements that sum up our characterization of NUI: differences, affordances and enactionDoutoradoCiência da ComputaçãoDoutora em Ciência da Computação160911/2015-0CAPESCNP

Understanding and Predicting Human Behaviour in Maritime Emergencies

Maritime disasters can result in devastating loss of life. In order to mitigate such loss, it is necessary to optimise the efficacy of evacuation procedures. Previous research on maritime disasters and the behaviour observed during evacuation is limited. This is mainly due to issues involving the collection of sufficient reliable data. Human behaviour is a complex phenomenon variously affected by experience, emotions, interactions and environment. These factors are further modulated by the life-threatening nature of uniquely evolving disasters. Currently, computational evacuation models fail to consider passengers as sentient, psychological agents. Some have shown success in the prediction of actions undertaken. This thesis describes three interlinked studies intended to crystallise a methodological approach for effective future research into disaster evacuations. The first study was a replication of a previous study of the Costa Concordia disaster. Behavioural Sequence Analysis was conducted on data collected from a new sample of survivors. Statistically significant correlations were found which indicated the reliability of the method of data collection. These data were then broken down by gender, age, companions, and experience in order to detect intra-cohort differences. Analysis of routes and transitions in decomposition diagrams detected differences between sub-cohorts. However, existing psychological literature was unable to offer consistent, persuasive explanations for certain detected phenomena. The second study involved the recreation of the first study using the ‘Talk-Through’ method. This method is potentially valuable for the creation of reliable imagined data, which mirrors real-life experiences. The third study involved an in-depth comparison of the data extracted by each method. This filled a specifically noted gap in knowledge concerning the ecological validity of the ‘Talk-Through’ method. It was anticipated that the results of the two methods would be comparable. Indeed, correlation analysis provided evidence for the validity of the talk-through method with respect to the number of acts and transitions reported in each condition. In order to accelerate evacuation research, refinements to data-collection and analysis were proposed. By taking control of the storytelling, more controlled and comparable data may be produced which focus on choices made at each phase during a complete sequence of evacuation. This would create data more appropriate for computer modelling and more capable of quantitatively evaluating choices. Understanding motivations is critical to the communication of effective and authoritative instruction. By redirecting psychological research towards this goal, persuasive evidence may be produced to guide and inform the implementation and execution of emergency evacuation procedures