Eyes on the mind : investigating the influence of gaze dynamics on the perception of others in real-time social interaction

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study was partially supported by a grant of the Köln Fortune Program of the Medical Faculty at the University of Cologne to Leonhard Schilbach and by a grant “Other Minds” of the German Ministry of Research and Education to Kai Vogeley. The authors would like to thank Stephanie Alexius and Leonhard Engels for their assistance in data collection.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Beyond human-likeness: Socialness is more influential when attributing mental states to robots

We sought to replicate and expand previous work showing that the more human-like a robot appears, the more willing people are to attribute mind-like capabilities and socially engage with it. Forty-two participants played games against a human, a humanoid robot, a mechanoid robot, and a computer algorithm while undergoing functional neuroimaging. We confirmed that the more human-like the agent, the more participants attributed a mind to them. However, exploratory analyses revealed that the perceived socialness of an agent appeared to be as, if not more, important for mind attribution. Our findings suggest top-down knowledge cues may be equally or possibly more influential than bottom-up stimulus cues when exploring mind attribution in non-human agents. While further work is now required to test this hypothesis directly, these preliminary findings hold important implications for robotic design and to understand and test the flexibility of human social cognition when people engage with artificial agent

Cultural differences in speed adaptation in human-robot interaction tasks

AbstractIn social interactions, human movement is a rich source of information for all those who take part in the collaboration. In fact, a variety of intuitive messages are communicated through motion and continuously inform the partners about the future unfolding of the actions. A similar exchange of implicit information could support movement coordination in the context of Human-Robot Interaction. In this work, we investigate how implicit signaling in an interaction with a humanoid robot can lead to emergent coordination in the form of automatic speed adaptation. In particular, we assess whether different cultures – specifically Japanese and Italian – have a different impact on motor resonance and synchronization in HRI. Japanese people show a higher general acceptance toward robots when compared with Western cultures. Since acceptance, or better affiliation, is tightly connected to imitation and mimicry, we hypothesize a higher degree of speed imitation for Japanese participants when compared to Italians. In the experimental studies undertaken both in Japan and Italy, we observe that cultural differences do not impact on the natural predisposition of subjects to adapt to the robot

Automatic Romaine Heart Harvester

The Romaine Robotics Senior Design Team developed a romaine lettuce heart trimming system in partnership with a Salinas farm to address a growing labor shortage in the agricultural industry that is resulting in crops rotting in the field before they could be harvested. An automated trimmer can alleviate the most time consuming step in the cut-trim-bag harvesting process, increasing the yields of robotic cutters or the speed of existing laborer teams. Leveraging the Partner Farm’s existing trimmer architecture, which consists of a laborer loading lettuce into sprungloaded grippers that are rotated through vision and cutting systems by an indexer, the team redesigned geometry to improve the loading, gripping, and ejection stages of the system. Physical testing, hand calculations, and FEA were performed to understand acceptable grip strengths and cup design, and several wooden mockups were built to explore a new actuating linkage design for the indexer. The team manufactured, assembled, and performed verification testing on a full-size metal motorized prototype that can be incorporated with the Partner Farm’s existing cutting and vision systems. The prototype met all of the established requirements, and the farm has implemented the redesign onto their trimmer. Future work would include designing and implementing vision and cutting systems for the team’s metal prototype

A Novel Machine Learning based Autonomous Farming Robot for Small-Scale Chili Plantations

The agricultural sector is a major economic force in Sri Lanka, which contributes to the national economy, food security, and employment. The traditional methods practiced by farmers mainly drove the growth of the agriculture sector over the last 2500 years. However, these traditional methods have often been ineffective against pest attacks in recent years causing significant losses to farmers and threatening food security. To counter these issues, officials and researchers have started formulating novel technology-based smart solutions. This study proposes a smart, autonomous mobile robot that can help detect pests and diseases in advance and assist in crop estimation of chili plants. The model is created as such for pest and plant disease detection in small-scale chili plantations with the hope of using it in other crop types for the same purpose in the future. Thus, the proposed approach together with the developed model can be used to enhance the growth of other plants as well. Identification of the type of garden and the detection of pests and plant diseases are achieved using machine learning techniques while the identification of nutrient deficiencies is achieved using image processing techniques. This proposed mobile robot incorporates sensory inputs, machine learning, robotics, and image processing. Furthermore, a mobile application acts as the interface between the user and the robot

Motion for cooperation and vitality in Human-robot interaction

In social interactions, human movement is a rich source of information for all those who take part in the collaboration. In fact, a variety of intuitive messages are communicated through motion and continuously inform the partners about the future unfolding of the actions. A similar exchange of implicit information could support movement coordination in the context of Human-Robot Interaction. Also the style of an action, i.e. the way it is performed, has a strong influence on interaction between humans. The same gesture has different consequences when it is performed aggressively or kindly, and humans are very sensitive to these subtle differences in others\u2019 behaviors. During the three years of my PhD, I focused on these two aspects of human motion. In a firs study, we investigated how implicit signaling in an interaction with a humanoid robot can lead to emergent coordination in the form of automatic speed adaptation. In particular, we assessed whether different cultures \u2013 specifically Japanese and Italian \u2013 have a different impact on motor resonance and synchronization in HRI. Japanese people show a higher general acceptance toward robots when compared with Western cultures. Since acceptance, or better affiliation, is tightly connected to imitation and mimicry, we hypothesized a higher degree of speed imitation for Japanese participants when compared to Italians. In the experimental studies undertaken both in Japan and Italy,we observed that cultural differences do not impact on the natural predisposition of subjects to adapt to the robot. In a second study, we investigated how to endow a humanoid robot with behaviors expressing different vitality forms, by modulating robot action kinematics and voice. Drawing inspiration from humans, we modified actions and voice commands performed by the robot to convey an aggressive or kind attitude. In a series of experiments we demonstrated that the humanoid was consistently perceived as aggressive or kind. Human behavior changed in response to the different robot attitudes and matched the behavior of iCub, in fact participants were faster when the robot was aggressive and slower when the robot was gentle. The opportunity of humanoid behavior to express vitality enriches the array of nonverbal communication that can be exploited by robots to foster seamless interaction. Such behavior might be crucial in emergency and in authoritative situations in which the robot should instinctively be perceived as assertive and in charge, as in case of police robots or teachers

Bidirektionale Interaktion von Mensch und Roboter beim Bewegungslernen - Visuelle Wahrnehmung von Roboterbewegungen

In den vergangenen Jahrzehnten haben sich die Arbeitsbereiche von Menschen und Robotern zunehmend gegenseitig durchdrungen. Interaktionen zwischen Mensch und Roboter sind in vielen Lebensbereichen, z. B. Industrie, Medizin, Rehabilitation und Sport gegenwärtig. Während Roboter bisher vorwiegend starr programmiert wurden, hat sich in den letzten Jahren ein Paradigmenwechsel hin zu einer anpassungsfähigen, lernenden Programmierung vollzogen. Basierend auf diesem neuen Ansatz der Programmierung tritt eine direkte, teils physische Interaktion zwischen Mensch und Roboter zunehmend in den Fokus der Entwicklung und eröffnet ein bisher ungeahntes Potential zur Weiterentwicklung der Mensch-Roboter-Interaktion. Die Beziehung von Mensch und Roboter ist von vielen, teils extremen Unterschieden zwischen den beiden Systemen gekennzeichnet (Verfügbare Sensorik, Anzahl der Freiheitsgrade, Anzahl der Muskeln/Aktuatoren sowie Integrationsgrad von Sensorik und Aktuatorik). Diese Unterschiede erweisen sich für die beiden Systeme in einem isolierten Bewegungslernprozess teils als Vor- und teils als Nachteil. Der Frage, wie sich die Vorteile der beiden Systeme in einem gemeinsamen bidirektionalen Bewegungslernprozess optimal kombinieren lassen, geht das Projekt Bidirectional Interaction between Human and Robot when learning movements nach. Im Rahmen dieses interdisziplinären Forschungsprojektes sollen die Erkenntnisse aus den Bereichen der Sportwissenschaft und der Informatik kombiniert und die wissenschaftliche Basis für ein verbessertes Mensch-Roboter-Training gelegt werden. Das Projekt unterteilt sich dabei in vier Teilbereiche: die bidirektionale Interaktion zweier Menschen, die unidirektionale Interaktion von Mensch und Roboter (zwei Richtungen) sowie die bidirektionale Interaktion von Mensch und Roboter. In dieser Dissertation werden drei Artikel zu der beschriebenen Thematik vorgestellt. Der erste Artikel beschreibt Ziele und Struktur des Forschungsprojekts sowie drei exemplarische Studien zu den ersten drei Teilbereichen des Projekts. Aufbauend auf den Erkenntnissen einer der vorgestellten Studien zur Bedeutung der Beobachtungsperspektive beim Bewegungslernen, fokussieren die beiden darauf folgenden Artikel die visuelle Wahrnehmung von Roboterbewegungen durch den Menschen. Der Beschreibung des Projekts in Zielen und Struktur schließt sich im Artikel I die Vorstellung von drei exemplarischen Untersuchungen an. Die erste Studie betrachtet die bidirektionale Interaktion in Mensch-Mensch-Dyaden. Sie verifiziert einen prototypischen, dyadischen Bewegungslernprozess und identifiziert relevante Themen, die auf Mensch-Roboter-Dyaden übertragen werden können. Zur unidirektionalen Interaktion zwischen Mensch und Roboter werden zwei Studien vorgestellt. Im Bereich des Lernens eines Roboters von einem Menschen wird eine iterative Feedbackstrategie eines Roboters beschrieben. Eine Untersuchung zur Bedeutung der Beobachtungsperspektive beim Bewegungslernen von Mensch und Roboter bearbeitet den Bereich des unidirektionalen Lernens eines Mensches von einem Roboter. Basierend auf dieser Untersuchung ergeben sich die Fragestellungen, die in den folgenden beiden Artikeln untersucht werden. Während viele Studien die Wahrnehmung von biologischen Bewegungen untersucht haben, befassen sich nur wenige Ansätze mit der Wahrnehmung von nichtbiologischen Roboterbewegungen. Um diese Lücke zu schließen, werden im Artikel II zwei aufeinander aufbauende Studien zur Wahrnehmung von Roboterputtbewegungen durch den Menschen vorgestellt. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass eine Leistungsvorhersage der gezeigten Roboterputtbewegungen nur bei Sichtbarkeit der vollständigen Bewegung möglich sind. Insbesondere die Ausschwungphase scheint eine Vielzahl an räumlich-zeitlichen Informationen bereit zu stellen, die einen großen Einfluss auf die Leistungsvorhersage besitzen. Aufbauend auf den bisher gewonnenen Erkenntnissen wird im Artikel III eine Studie vorgestellt, die versucht, die für die Ableitung von räumlich-zeitlichen Informationen wichtigen Bewegungselemente zu identifizieren. Im Rahmen der vorgestellten Untersuchung wurden die gezeigten Roboterputtbewegungen teilweise manipuliert. Wichtige Bewegungselemente, z. B. Roboter, Schläger oder Ball, wurden ausgeblendet. Zusammenfassend betrachtet diese Dissertation die visuelle Wahrnehmung von Roboterbewegungen durch den Menschen am Beispiel der Puttbewegung im Golf. Der Hauptbeitrag dieser Arbeit sind Erkenntnisse, die in einen bidirektionalen Bewegungslernprozess von Mensch-Roboter-Dyaden überführt werden können. Aus der Arbeit ergeben sich weiterführende Forschungsansätze und Fragestellungen, die eine hohe Relevanz für die Weiterentwicklung der Interaktion von Mensch und Roboter besitzen

Teaching EFL/ESL College-level Learners through Current Global Topics: Integrated Lessons for EFL/ESL Teachers

The importance of educating effective English users competent in communicating and interacting in a variety of social settings is highlighted in today’s highly globalized world. Being able to understand and discuss complex global topics related to current cultural, social, and business issues and events has become an integral skill of English learners to achieve greater international connectivity. Unfortunately, many EFL/ESL college-level students, specifically Korean EFL students, do not seem to have sufficient preparation to build English communicative competence and cultural awareness necessary to cope with various situations in which they need to communicate meaningfully and purposefully as effective English users. The purpose of this project, which is grounded in theoretical frameworks of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and the Participatory Approach, is to address that there is a need to bring inspiring and meaningful real-world topics into English language teaching to enhance students’ communication skills. This field project is in the form of a handbook which consists of the three sample units of curriculum. Each unit offers teachers a detailed example of how to teach the current global topics to students through the integrated lessons of listening, reading, speaking, and writing, allowing teachers to explore teaching ideas, resources, and activities around the global topics. All in all, this project provides teachers with a wealth of content and themes which will spark students’ interests and engagement by incorporating a variety of meaningful global topics related to current cultural, social, business, and world issues and events around the globe. Incorporating current global topics in English language teaching (ELT) is an important facilitating factor in the acquisition of English as a means of global communication necessary to thrive in this rapidly globalized and highly interconnected world