Pyro: A Python-Based Versatile Programming Environment For Teaching Robotics

In this article we describe a programming framework called Pyro, which provides a set of abstractions that allows students to write platform-independent robot programs. This project is unique because of its focus on the pedagogical implications of teaching mobile robotics via a top-down approach. We describe the background of the project, its novel abstractions, its library of objects, and the many learning modules that have been created from which curricula for different types of courses can be drawn. Finally, we explore Pyro from the students\u27 perspective in a case study

Children’s knowledge and expectations about robots: A survey for future user-centered design of social robots

Sandoval E, Brandstetter J. Children’s knowledge and expectations about robots: A survey for future user-centered design of social robots. In: Yanco H, ed. Proceedings of the 7th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI 2012). Piscataway, NJ: IEEE; 2012: 107-108

The Pyro Toolkit For AI And Robotics

This article introduces Pyro, an open-source Python robotics toolkit for exploring topics in AI and robotics. We present key abstractions that allow Pyro controllers to run unchanged on a variety of real and simulated robots. We demonstrate Pyro\u27s use in a set of curricular modules. We then describe how Pyro can provide a smooth transition for the student from symbolic agents to real-world robots, which significantly reduces the cost of learning to use robots. Finally we show how Pyro has been successfully integrated into existing AI and robotics courses

'If you sound like me, you must be more human': On the interplay of robot and user features on human-robot acceptance and anthropomorphism

Eyssel FA, Kuchenbrandt D, Bobinger S, de Ruiter L, Hegel F. 'If you sound like me, you must be more human': On the interplay of robot and user features on human-robot acceptance and anthropomorphism. In: Yanco H, ed. Proceedings of the 7th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI2012), Late Breaking Report. New York, USA: ACM; 2012: 125-126.In an experiment we manipulated a robot's voice in two ways: First, we varied robot gender; second, we equipped the robot with a human-like or a robot-like synthesized voice. Moreover, we took into account user gender and tested effects of these factors on human-robot acceptance, psychological closeness and psychological anthropomorphism. When participants formed an impression of a same-gender robot, the robot was perceived more positively. Participants also felt more psychological closeness to the same-gender robot. Similarly, the same-gender robot was anthropomorphized more strongly, but only when it utilized a human-like voice. Results indicate that a projection mechanism could underlie these effects

Collective Learning and Semiotic Dynamics

. We report on a case study in the emergence of a lexicon in a group of autonomous distributed agents situated and grounded in an open environment. Because the agents are autonomous, grounded, and situated, the possible words and possible meanings are not fixed but continuously change as the agents autonomously evolve their communication system and adapt it to novel situations. The case study shows that a complex semiotic dynamics unfolds and that generalisations present in the language are due to processes outside the agent. 1 Introduction In recent years it has become clear that the complex adaptive systems approach pioneered by Artificial Life research can fruitfully be applied to the study of the origins and evolution of language [9], particularly to the emergence of shared sound systems [3], the self-organisation of lexicons [7], [11], grounded word meaning [12], and the origins of grammar [4], [1], [5]. In all this research, the same mechanisms for the generation and mai..