228 research outputs found

    High Social Acceptance of Head Gaze Loosely Synchronized with Speech for Social Robots

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    This research demonstrates that robots can achieve socially acceptable interactions, using loosely synchronized head gaze-speech, without understanding the semantics of the dialog. Prior approaches used tightly synchronized head gaze-speech, which requires significant human effort and time to manually annotate synchronization events in advance, restricting interactive dialog, and requiring the operator to act as a puppeteer. This approach has two novel aspects. First, it uses affordances in the sentence structure, time delays, and typing to achieve autonomous synchronization of head gaze-speech. Second, it is implemented within a behavioral robotics framework derived from 32 previous implementations. The efficacy of the loosely synchronized approach was validated through a 93-participant 1 x 3 (loosely synchronized head gaze-speech, tightly synchronized head gaze-speech, no-head gazespeech) between-subjects experiment using the “Survivor Buddy” rescue robot in a victim management scenario. The results indicated that the social acceptance of loosely synchronized head gaze-speech is similar to tightly synchronized head gazespeech (manual annotation), and preferred to the no head gaze-speech case. These findings contribute to the study of social robotics in three ways. First, the research overall contributes to a fundamental understanding of the role of social head gaze in social acceptance, and the production of social head gaze. Second, it shows that autonomously generated head gaze-speech coordination is both possible and acceptable. Third, the behavioral robotics framework simplifies creation, analysis, and comparison of implementations

    Design and Architecture of an Ontology-driven Dialogue System for HPV Vaccine Counseling

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    Speech and conversational technologies are increasingly being used by consumers, with the inevitability that one day they will be integrated in health care. Where this technology could be of service is in patient-provider communication, specifically for communicating the risks and benefits of vaccines. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, in particular, is a vaccine that inoculates individuals from certain HPV viruses responsible for adulthood cancers - cervical, head and neck cancers, etc. My research focuses on the architecture and development of speech-enabled conversational agent that relies on series of consumer-centric health ontologies and the technology that utilizes these ontologies. Ontologies are computable artifacts that encode and structure domain knowledge that can be utilized by machines to provide high level capabilities, such as reasoning and sharing information. I will focus the agent’s impact on the HPV vaccine domain to observe if users would respond favorably towards conversational agents and the possible impact of the agent on their beliefs of the HPV vaccine. The approach of this study involves a multi-tier structure. The first tier is the domain knowledge base, the second is the application interaction design tier, and the third is the feasibility assessment of the participants. The research in this study proposes the following questions: Can ontologies support the system architecture for a spoken conversational agent for HPV vaccine counseling? How would prospective users’ perception towards an agent and towards the HPV vaccine be impacted after using conversational agent for HPV vaccine education? The outcome of this study is a comprehensive assessment of a system architecture of a conversational agent for patient-centric HPV vaccine counseling. Each layer of the agent architecture is regulated through domain and application ontologies, and supported by the various ontology-driven software components that I developed to compose the agent architecture. Also discussed in this work, I present preliminary evidence of high usability of the agent and improvement of the users’ health beliefs toward the HPV vaccine. All in all, I introduce a comprehensive and feasible model for the design and development of an open-sourced, ontology-driven conversational agent for any health consumer domain, and corroborate the viability of a conversational agent as a health intervention tool

    A Framework For Abstracting, Designing And Building Tangible Gesture Interactive Systems

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    This thesis discusses tangible gesture interaction, a novel paradigm for interacting with computer that blends concepts from the more popular fields of tangible interaction and gesture interaction. Taking advantage of the human innate abilities to manipulate physical objects and to communicate through gestures, tangible gesture interaction is particularly interesting for interacting in smart environments, bringing the interaction with computer beyond the screen, back to the real world. Since tangible gesture interaction is a relatively new field of research, this thesis presents a conceptual framework that aims at supporting future work in this field. The Tangible Gesture Interaction Framework provides support on three levels. First, it helps reflecting from a theoretical point of view on the different types of tangible gestures that can be designed, physically, through a taxonomy based on three components (move, hold and touch) and additional attributes, and semantically, through a taxonomy of the semantic constructs that can be used to associate meaning to tangible gestures. Second, it helps conceiving new tangible gesture interactive systems and designing new interactions based on gestures with objects, through dedicated guidelines for tangible gesture definition and common practices for different application domains. Third, it helps building new tangible gesture interactive systems supporting the choice between four different technological approaches (embedded and embodied, wearable, environmental or hybrid) and providing general guidance for the different approaches. As an application of this framework, this thesis presents also seven tangible gesture interactive systems for three different application domains, i.e., interacting with the In-Vehicle Infotainment System (IVIS) of the car, the emotional and interpersonal communication, and the interaction in a smart home. For the first application domain, four different systems that use gestures on the steering wheel as interaction means with the IVIS have been designed, developed and evaluated. For the second application domain, an anthropomorphic lamp able to recognize gestures that humans typically perform for interpersonal communication has been conceived and developed. A second system, based on smart t-shirts, recognizes when two people hug and reward the gesture with an exchange of digital information. Finally, a smart watch for recognizing gestures performed with objects held in the hand in the context of the smart home has been investigated. The analysis of existing systems found in literature and of the system developed during this thesis shows that the framework has a good descriptive and evaluative power. The applications developed during this thesis show that the proposed framework has also a good generative power.Questa tesi discute l’interazione gestuale tangibile, un nuovo paradigma per interagire con il computer che unisce i principi dei più comuni campi di studio dell’interazione tangibile e dell’interazione gestuale. Sfruttando le abilità innate dell’uomo di manipolare oggetti fisici e di comunicare con i gesti, l’interazione gestuale tangibile si rivela particolarmente interessante per interagire negli ambienti intelligenti, riportando l’attenzione sul nostro mondo reale, al di là dello schermo dei computer o degli smartphone. Poiché l’interazione gestuale tangibile è un campo di studio relativamente recente, questa tesi presenta un framework (quadro teorico) che ha lo scopo di assistere lavori futuri in questo campo. Il Framework per l’Interazione Gestuale Tangibile fornisce supporto su tre livelli. Per prima cosa, aiuta a riflettere da un punto di vista teorico sui diversi tipi di gesti tangibili che possono essere eseguiti fisicamente, grazie a una tassonomia basata su tre componenti (muovere, tenere, toccare) e attributi addizionali, e che possono essere concepiti semanticamente, grazie a una tassonomia di tutti i costrutti semantici che permettono di associare dei significati ai gesti tangibili. In secondo luogo, il framework proposto aiuta a concepire nuovi sistemi interattivi basati su gesti tangibili e a ideare nuove interazioni basate su gesti con gli oggetti, attraverso linee guida per la definizione di gesti tangibili e una selezione delle migliore pratiche per i differenti campi di applicazione. Infine, il framework aiuta a implementare nuovi sistemi interattivi basati su gesti tangibili, permettendo di scegliere tra quattro differenti approcci tecnologici (incarnato e integrato negli oggetti, indossabile, distribuito nell’ambiente, o ibrido) e fornendo una guida generale per la scelta tra questi differenti approcci. Come applicazione di questo framework, questa tesi presenta anche sette sistemi interattivi basati su gesti tangibili, realizzati per tre differenti campi di applicazione: l’interazione con i sistemi di infotainment degli autoveicoli, la comunicazione interpersonale delle emozioni, e l’interazione nella casa intelligente. Per il primo campo di applicazione, sono stati progettati, sviluppati e testati quattro differenti sistemi che usano gesti tangibili effettuati sul volante come modalità di interazione con il sistema di infotainment. Per il secondo campo di applicazione, è stata concepita e sviluppata una lampada antropomorfica in grado di riconoscere i gesti tipici dell’interazione interpersonale. Per lo stesso campo di applicazione, un secondo sistema, basato su una maglietta intelligente, riconosce quando due persone si abbracciano e ricompensa questo gesto con uno scambio di informazioni digitali. Infine, per l’interazione nella casa intelligente, è stata investigata la realizzazione di uno smart watch per il riconoscimento di gesti eseguiti con oggetti tenuti nella mano. L’analisi dei sistemi interattivi esistenti basati su gesti tangibili permette di dimostrare che il framework ha un buon potere descrittivo e valutativo. Le applicazioni sviluppate durante la tesi mostrano che il framework proposto ha anche un valido potere generativo

    Digitization, innovation, and participation: digital conviviality of the Google Cultural Institute

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    2018 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.To view the abstract, please see the full text of the document

    Analysis and automatic identification of spontaneous emotions in speech from human-human and human-machine communication

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    383 p.This research mainly focuses on improving our understanding of human-human and human-machineinteractions by analysing paricipantsÂż emotional status. For this purpose, we have developed andenhanced Speech Emotion Recognition (SER) systems for both interactions in real-life scenarios,explicitly emphasising the Spanish language. In this framework, we have conducted an in-depth analysisof how humans express emotions using speech when communicating with other persons or machines inactual situations. Thus, we have analysed and studied the way in which emotional information isexpressed in a variety of true-to-life environments, which is a crucial aspect for the development of SERsystems. This study aimed to comprehensively understand the challenge we wanted to address:identifying emotional information on speech using machine learning technologies. Neural networks havebeen demonstrated to be adequate tools for identifying events in speech and language. Most of themaimed to make local comparisons between some specific aspects; thus, the experimental conditions weretailored to each particular analysis. The experiments across different articles (from P1 to P19) are hardlycomparable due to our continuous learning of dealing with the difficult task of identifying emotions inspeech. In order to make a fair comparison, additional unpublished results are presented in the Appendix.These experiments were carried out under identical and rigorous conditions. This general comparisonoffers an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of the different methodologies for the automaticrecognition of emotions in speech

    Affective Motivational Collaboration Theory

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    Existing computational theories of collaboration explain some of the important concepts underlying collaboration, e.g., the collaborators\u27 commitments and communication. However, the underlying processes required to dynamically maintain the elements of the collaboration structure are largely unexplained. Our main insight is that in many collaborative situations acknowledging or ignoring a collaborator\u27s affective state can facilitate or impede the progress of the collaboration. This implies that collaborative agents need to employ affect-related processes that (1) use the collaboration structure to evaluate the status of the collaboration, and (2) influence the collaboration structure when required. This thesis develops a new affect-driven computational framework to achieve these objectives and thus empower agents to be better collaborators. Contributions of this thesis are: (1) Affective Motivational Collaboration (AMC) theory, which incorporates appraisal processes into SharedPlans theory. (2) New computational appraisal algorithms based on collaboration structure. (3) Algorithms such as goal management, that use the output of appraisal to maintain collaboration structures. (4) Implementation of a computational system based on AMC theory. (5) Evaluation of AMC theory via two user studies to a) validate our appraisal algorithms, and b) investigate the overall functionality of our framework within an end-to-end system with a human and a robot

    Nodalida 2005 - proceedings of the 15th NODALIDA conference

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    Development of the huggable social robot Probo: on the conceptual design and software architecture

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    This dissertation presents the development of a huggable social robot named Probo. Probo embodies a stuffed imaginary animal, providing a soft touch and a huggable appearance. Probo's purpose is to serve as a multidisciplinary research platform for human-robot interaction focused on children. In terms of a social robot, Probo is classified as a social interface supporting non-verbal communication. Probo's social skills are thereby limited to a reactive level. To close the gap with higher levels of interaction, an innovative system for shared control with a human operator is introduced. The software architecture de nes a modular structure to incorporate all systems into a single control center. This control center is accompanied with a 3D virtual model of Probo, simulating all motions of the robot and providing a visual feedback to the operator. Additionally, the model allows us to advance on user-testing and evaluation of newly designed systems. The robot reacts on basic input stimuli that it perceives during interaction. The input stimuli, that can be referred to as low-level perceptions, are derived from vision analysis, audio analysis, touch analysis and object identification. The stimuli will influence the attention and homeostatic system, used to de ne the robot's point of attention, current emotional state and corresponding facial expression. The recognition of these facial expressions has been evaluated in various user-studies. To evaluate the collaboration of the software components, a social interactive game for children, Probogotchi, has been developed. To facilitate interaction with children, Probo has an identity and corresponding history. Safety is ensured through Probo's soft embodiment and intrinsic safe actuation systems. To convey the illusion of life in a robotic creature, tools for the creation and management of motion sequences are put into the hands of the operator. All motions generated from operator triggered systems are combined with the motions originating from the autonomous reactive systems. The resulting motion is subsequently smoothened and transmitted to the actuation systems. With future applications to come, Probo is an ideal platform to create a friendly companion for hospitalised children

    Real-time generation and adaptation of social companion robot behaviors

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    Social robots will be part of our future homes. They will assist us in everyday tasks, entertain us, and provide helpful advice. However, the technology still faces challenges that must be overcome to equip the machine with social competencies and make it a socially intelligent and accepted housemate. An essential skill of every social robot is verbal and non-verbal communication. In contrast to voice assistants, smartphones, and smart home technology, which are already part of many people's lives today, social robots have an embodiment that raises expectations towards the machine. Their anthropomorphic or zoomorphic appearance suggests they can communicate naturally with speech, gestures, or facial expressions and understand corresponding human behaviors. In addition, robots also need to consider individual users' preferences: everybody is shaped by their culture, social norms, and life experiences, resulting in different expectations towards communication with a robot. However, robots do not have human intuition - they must be equipped with the corresponding algorithmic solutions to these problems. This thesis investigates the use of reinforcement learning to adapt the robot's verbal and non-verbal communication to the user's needs and preferences. Such non-functional adaptation of the robot's behaviors primarily aims to improve the user experience and the robot's perceived social intelligence. The literature has not yet provided a holistic view of the overall challenge: real-time adaptation requires control over the robot's multimodal behavior generation, an understanding of human feedback, and an algorithmic basis for machine learning. Thus, this thesis develops a conceptual framework for designing real-time non-functional social robot behavior adaptation with reinforcement learning. It provides a higher-level view from the system designer's perspective and guidance from the start to the end. It illustrates the process of modeling, simulating, and evaluating such adaptation processes. Specifically, it guides the integration of human feedback and social signals to equip the machine with social awareness. The conceptual framework is put into practice for several use cases, resulting in technical proofs of concept and research prototypes. They are evaluated in the lab and in in-situ studies. These approaches address typical activities in domestic environments, focussing on the robot's expression of personality, persona, politeness, and humor. Within this scope, the robot adapts its spoken utterances, prosody, and animations based on human explicit or implicit feedback.Soziale Roboter werden Teil unseres zukünftigen Zuhauses sein. Sie werden uns bei alltäglichen Aufgaben unterstützen, uns unterhalten und uns mit hilfreichen Ratschlägen versorgen. Noch gibt es allerdings technische Herausforderungen, die zunächst überwunden werden müssen, um die Maschine mit sozialen Kompetenzen auszustatten und zu einem sozial intelligenten und akzeptierten Mitbewohner zu machen. Eine wesentliche Fähigkeit eines jeden sozialen Roboters ist die verbale und nonverbale Kommunikation. Im Gegensatz zu Sprachassistenten, Smartphones und Smart-Home-Technologien, die bereits heute Teil des Lebens vieler Menschen sind, haben soziale Roboter eine Verkörperung, die Erwartungen an die Maschine weckt. Ihr anthropomorphes oder zoomorphes Aussehen legt nahe, dass sie in der Lage sind, auf natürliche Weise mit Sprache, Gestik oder Mimik zu kommunizieren, aber auch entsprechende menschliche Kommunikation zu verstehen. Darüber hinaus müssen Roboter auch die individuellen Vorlieben der Benutzer berücksichtigen. So ist jeder Mensch von seiner Kultur, sozialen Normen und eigenen Lebenserfahrungen geprägt, was zu unterschiedlichen Erwartungen an die Kommunikation mit einem Roboter führt. Roboter haben jedoch keine menschliche Intuition - sie müssen mit entsprechenden Algorithmen für diese Probleme ausgestattet werden. In dieser Arbeit wird der Einsatz von bestärkendem Lernen untersucht, um die verbale und nonverbale Kommunikation des Roboters an die Bedürfnisse und Vorlieben des Benutzers anzupassen. Eine solche nicht-funktionale Anpassung des Roboterverhaltens zielt in erster Linie darauf ab, das Benutzererlebnis und die wahrgenommene soziale Intelligenz des Roboters zu verbessern. Die Literatur bietet bisher keine ganzheitliche Sicht auf diese Herausforderung: Echtzeitanpassung erfordert die Kontrolle über die multimodale Verhaltenserzeugung des Roboters, ein Verständnis des menschlichen Feedbacks und eine algorithmische Basis für maschinelles Lernen. Daher wird in dieser Arbeit ein konzeptioneller Rahmen für die Gestaltung von nicht-funktionaler Anpassung der Kommunikation sozialer Roboter mit bestärkendem Lernen entwickelt. Er bietet eine übergeordnete Sichtweise aus der Perspektive des Systemdesigners und eine Anleitung vom Anfang bis zum Ende. Er veranschaulicht den Prozess der Modellierung, Simulation und Evaluierung solcher Anpassungsprozesse. Insbesondere wird auf die Integration von menschlichem Feedback und sozialen Signalen eingegangen, um die Maschine mit sozialem Bewusstsein auszustatten. Der konzeptionelle Rahmen wird für mehrere Anwendungsfälle in die Praxis umgesetzt, was zu technischen Konzeptnachweisen und Forschungsprototypen führt, die in Labor- und In-situ-Studien evaluiert werden. Diese Ansätze befassen sich mit typischen Aktivitäten in häuslichen Umgebungen, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf dem Ausdruck der Persönlichkeit, dem Persona, der Höflichkeit und dem Humor des Roboters liegt. In diesem Rahmen passt der Roboter seine Sprache, Prosodie, und Animationen auf Basis expliziten oder impliziten menschlichen Feedbacks an
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