A Narrative Approach to Human-Robot Interaction Prototyping for Companion Robots

© 2020 Kheng Lee Koay et al., published by De Gruyter This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This paper presents a proof of concept prototype study for domestic home robot companions, using a narrative-based methodology based on the principles of immersive engagement and fictional enquiry, creating scenarios which are inter-connected through a coherent narrative arc, to encourage participant immersion within a realistic setting. The aim was to ground human interactions with this technology in a coherent, meaningful experience. Nine participants interacted with a robotic agent in a smart home environment twice a week over a month, with each interaction framed within a greater narrative arc. Participant responses, both to the scenarios and the robotic agents used within them are discussed, suggesting that the prototyping methodology was successful in conveying a meaningful interaction experience.Peer reviewe

Views from within a narrative : Evaluating long-term human-robot interaction in a naturalistic environment using open-ended scenarios

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited. Date of acceptance: 16/06/2014This article describes the prototyping of human–robot interactions in the University of Hertfordshire (UH) Robot House. Twelve participants took part in a long-term study in which they interacted with robots in the UH Robot House once a week for a period of 10 weeks. A prototyping method using the narrative framing technique allowed participants to engage with the robots in episodic interactions that were framed using narrative to convey the impression of a continuous long-term interaction. The goal was to examine how participants responded to the scenarios and the robots as well as specific robot behaviours, such as agent migration and expressive behaviours. Evaluation of the robots and the scenarios were elicited using several measures, including the standardised System Usability Scale, an ad hoc Scenario Acceptance Scale, as well as single-item Likert scales, open-ended questionnaire items and a debriefing interview. Results suggest that participants felt that the use of this prototyping technique allowed them insight into the use of the robot, and that they accepted the use of the robot within the scenarioPeer reviewe

Blockchain Solutions for Multi-Agent Robotic Systems: Related Work and Open Questions

The possibilities of decentralization and immutability make blockchain probably one of the most breakthrough and promising technological innovations in recent years. This paper presents an overview, analysis, and classification of possible blockchain solutions for practical tasks facing multi-agent robotic systems. The paper discusses blockchain-based applications that demonstrate how distributed ledger can be used to extend the existing number of research platforms and libraries for multi-agent robotic systems.Comment: 5 pages, FRUCT-2019 conference pape

Safe, Remote-Access Swarm Robotics Research on the Robotarium

This paper describes the development of the Robotarium -- a remotely accessible, multi-robot research facility. The impetus behind the Robotarium is that multi-robot testbeds constitute an integral and essential part of the multi-agent research cycle, yet they are expensive, complex, and time-consuming to develop, operate, and maintain. These resource constraints, in turn, limit access for large groups of researchers and students, which is what the Robotarium is remedying by providing users with remote access to a state-of-the-art multi-robot test facility. This paper details the design and operation of the Robotarium as well as connects these to the particular considerations one must take when making complex hardware remotely accessible. In particular, safety must be built in already at the design phase without overly constraining which coordinated control programs the users can upload and execute, which calls for minimally invasive safety routines with provable performance guarantees.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 code samples, 72 reference

Embodied conversations: Performance and the design of a robotic dancing partner

This paper reports insights gained from an exploration of performance-based techniques to improve the design of relationships between people and responsive machines. It draws on the Emergent Objects project and specifically addresses notions of embodiment as employed in the field of performance as a means to prototype and develop a robotic agent, SpiderCrab, designed to promote expressive interaction of device and human dancer, in order to achieve ‘performative merging’. The significance of the work is to bring further knowledge of embodiment to bear on the development of human-technological interaction in general. In doing so, it draws on discursive and interpretive methods of research widely used in the field of performance but not yet obviously aligned with some orthodox paradigms and practices within design research. It also posits the design outcome as an ‘objectile’ in the sense that a continuous and potentially divergent iteration of prototypes is envisaged, rather than a singular final product. The focus on performative merging draws in notions of complexity and user experience. Keywords: Embodiment; Performance; Tacit Knowledge; Practice-As-Research; Habitus.</p

Special Session on Industry 4.0

No abstract available

Remote Access to a Prototyping Laboratory

There is a growing global demand for continuing adult higher education particularly in science and engineering subjects. New technologies are emerging which would enable the development of a Remote Access Laboratory for rapid prototyping of Artificial Intelligence, as a learning environment for mechatronic engineering, in which high precision electromechanical devices are designed to exhibit autonomous behaviour. Secondary research investigated the learning theories for a Remote Access Laboratory, and the current practices for distance learning, involving groupware in shared activity 'collaboratories'. Having determined that the laboratory would need a multi-user interactive environment architecture, with the requirement for adaptability to rapid developments,a distributed software architecture was selected. The laboratory design was subsequently argued to be best served by Intelligent Agents in a Multi-Agent system. The aims of the research were to establish the viability of a Remote Access Laboratory for mechatronic experimentation, and to evaluate the technologies required to implement such a laboratory environment for rapid prototyping. These were achieved by developing a novel user interface, based on a multi-functional screen layout, and a graphical specification facility to provide robotic navigation that is intuitive to use and does not require text-based programming. The research investigated the prototyping of robotic behaviour, which used Programming by Demonstration as an innovative technique to prototype robot navigation. The method of designing behaviours met an anticipated need to allow the robot to interact with an environment, to achieve goals under conditions of uncertainty, while requiring a level of abstraction in the behaviour design. The interface structured a composite of the designed behaviours into prototype Artificial Intelligence using a hierarchical behaviour architecture, which complied with the principles of Object Orientated programming. This was subsequently a new and original programming method to facilitate rapid prototyping of Artificial Intelligence design and structuring. Experimentation involved 20 participants attempting to accomplish a series of tasks which involved using the prototyped interface and an existing text-based robot programming system. The participants were profiled by their formal qualifications, knowledge and experience. The experimental data obtained were used to establish a comparative measure of the prototype interface success compared with an existing distance-learning, home experiment kit, in the form of a small controllable model vehicle. The data obtained provided strong evidence to support the hypothesis that a Programming by Demonstration based system for rapid prototyping is more flexible and easier to use than a previously existing distance learning text-based system. The Programming by Demonstration system showed great promise, being quicker for prototyping, and more intuitive. The learning interface design pioneered new techniques and technologies for rapid prototyping of Artificial Intelligence in a Mechatronics Remote Access Laboratory