A multi-touch interface for multi-robot path planning and control

In the last few years, research in human-robot interaction has moved beyond the issues concerning the design of the interaction between a person and a single robot. Today many researchers have shifted their focus toward the problem of how humans can control a multi-robot team. The rising of multi-touch devices provides a new range of opportunities in this sense. Our research seeks to discover new insights and guidelines for the design of multi-touch interfaces for the control of biologically inspired multi-robot teams. We have developed an iPad touch interface that lets users exert partial control over a set of autonomous robots. The interface also serves as an experimental platform to study how human operators design multi-robot motion in a pursuit-evasion setting

Shaping human-robot interaction: Understanding the social aspects of intelligent robotic products

The field of robotics is changing at an unprecedented pace. Robotic technologies that integrate information technology with physical embodiment are now robust enough to be deployed in industrial, institutional, and domestic settings. They have the potential to be greatly beneficial to humankind. However, how these products should behave and interact with humans — act socially — remains largely unclear. When designing these products, we will need to make judgments about what technologies to pursue, what systems to make, and how to consider context when designing artifacts and services. Researchers and designers have only just begun to understand these critical issues

The Dark Side of Interaction Design

This panel will provoke the audience into reflecting on the dark side of interaction design. It will ask what role the HCI community has played in the inception and rise of digital addiction, digital persuasion, data exploitation and dark patterns and what to do about this state of affairs. The panelists will present their views about what we have unleashed. They will examine how g€stickiness' came about and how we might give users control over their data that is sucked up in this process. Finally, they will be asked to consider the merits and prospects of an alternative agenda, that pushes for interaction design to be fairer, more ethically-grounded and more transparent, while at the same time addressing head-on the dark side of interaction design

Entre défiance et amitié... Des relations politiques, diplomatiques et militaires tourmentées entre le roi de France et le prince-évêque de Liège au bas Moyen Âge (XIIIe-XVe siècles)

audience: researcher, professional, studen

Creativity encounters between children and robots

Creativity is an intrinsic human ability with multiple benefits across the lifespan. Despite its importance, societies not always are well equipped with contexts for creativity stimulation; as a consequence, a major decline in creative abilities occurs at the age of 7 years old. We investigated the effectiveness of using a robotic system named YOLO as an intervention tool to stimulate creativity in children. During the intervention, children used YOLO as a character for their stories and through the interaction with the robot, creative abilities were stimulated. Our study (n = 62) included 3 experimental conditions: i) YOLO displayed behaviors based on creativity techniques; ii) YOLO displayed behaviors based on creativity techniques plus social behaviors; iii) YOLO was turned off, not displaying any behaviors. We measured children’s creative abilities at pre- and post-testing and their creative process through behavior analysis. Results showed that the interaction with YOLO contributed to higher creativity levels in children, specifically contributing to the generation of more original ideas during story creation. This study shows the potential of using social robots as tools to empower intrinsic human abilities, such as the ability to be creative.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Designing electronic collaborative learning environments

Electronic collaborative learning environments for learning and working are in vogue. Designers design them according to their own constructivist interpretations of what collaborative learning is and what it should achieve. Educators employ them with different educational approaches and in diverse situations to achieve different ends. Students use them, sometimes very enthusiastically, but often in a perfunctory way. Finally, researchers study them and—as is usually the case when apples and oranges are compared—find no conclusive evidence as to whether or not they work, where they do or do not work, when they do or do not work and, most importantly, why, they do or do not work. This contribution presents an affordance framework for such collaborative learning environments; an interaction design procedure for designing, developing, and implementing them; and an educational affordance approach to the use of tasks in those environments. It also presents the results of three projects dealing with these three issues

How to Gain Emotional Rewards during Human-Robot Interaction Using Music? Formulation and Propositions

International audienceIn this paper, we present arguments for the need of emotion modelling and we de_ne elements for a study in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) using music. We also propose an adaptation of our generic model of emotions (GRACE) to give a precise idea of how to design emotional intelligence for a robot with music related abilities

Mutual shaping in the design of socially assistive robots: A case study on social robots for therapy

This paper offers a case study in undertaking a mutual shaping approach to the design of socially assistive robots. We consider the use of social robots in therapy, and we present our results regarding this application, but the approach is generalisable. Our methodology combines elements of user-centered and participatory design with a focus on mutual learning. We present it in full alongside a more general guide for application to other areas. This approach led to valuable results concerning mutual shaping effects and societal factors regarding the use of such robots early in the design process. We also measured a significant shift in participant robot acceptance pre-/post-study, demonstrating that our approach led to the two-way sharing and shaping of knowledge, ideas and acceptance

relating conversational expressiveness to social presence and accpetance of an assistive social robot

Exploring the relationship between social presence, conversational expressiveness, and robot acceptance, we set up an experiment with a robot in an eldercare institution, comparing a more and less social condition. Participants showed more expressiveness with a more social agent and a higher score on expressiveness correlated with higher scores on social presence. Furthermore, scores on social presence correlated with the scores on the intention to use the system in the near future. However, we found no correlation between conversational expressiveness and robot acceptance

'Collective Making' as knowledge mobilisation: the contribution of participatory design in the co-creation of knowledge in healthcare

The discourse in healthcare Knowledge Mobilisation (KMb) literature has shifted from simple, linear models of research knowledge production and action to more iterative and complex models. These aim to blend multiple stakeholders’ knowledge with research knowledge to address the researchpractice gap. It has been suggested there is no 'magic bullet', but that a promising approach to take is knowledge co-creation in healthcare, particularly if a number of principles are applied. These include systems thinking, positioning research as a creative enterprise with human experience at its core, and paying attention to process within the partnership. This discussion paper builds on this proposition and extends it beyond knowledge co-creation to co-designing evidenced based interventions and implementing them. Within a co-design model, we offer a specific approach to share, mobilise and activate knowledge, that we have termed 'collective making'. We draw on KMb, design, wider literature, and our experiences to describe how this framework supports and extends the principles of co-creation offered by Geenhalgh et al[1] in the context of the state of the art of knowledge mobilisation. We describe how collective making creates the right ‘conditions’ for knowledge to be mobilised particularly addressing issues relating to stakeholder relationships, helps to discover, share and blend different forms of knowledge from different stakeholders, and puts this blended knowledge to practical use allowing stakeholders to learn about the practical implications of knowledge use and to collectively create actionable products. We suggest this collective making has three domains of influence: on the participants; on the knowledge discovered and shared; and on the mobilisation or activation of this knowledge