Explorations in engagement for humans and robots

This paper explores the concept of engagement, the process by which individuals in an interaction start, maintain and end their perceived connection to one another. The paper reports on one aspect of engagement among human interactors--the effect of tracking faces during an interaction. It also describes the architecture of a robot that can participate in conversational, collaborative interactions with engagement gestures. Finally, the paper reports on findings of experiments with human participants who interacted with a robot when it either performed or did not perform engagement gestures. Results of the human-robot studies indicate that people become engaged with robots: they direct their attention to the robot more often in interactions where engagement gestures are present, and they find interactions more appropriate when engagement gestures are present than when they are not.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Designing for long-term human-robot interaction and application to weight loss

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-251).Human-robot interaction is now well enough understood to allow us to build useful systems that can function outside of the laboratory. This thesis defines sociable robot system in the context of long-term interaction, proposes guidelines for creating and evaluating such systems, and describes the implementation of a robot that has been designed to help individuals effect behavior change while dieting. The implemented system is a robotic weight loss coach, which is compared to a standalone computer and to a traditional paper log in a controlled study. A current challenge in weight loss is in getting individuals to keep off weight that is lost. The results of our study show that participants track their calorie consumption and exercise for nearly twice as long when using the robot than with the other methods and develop a closer relationship with the robot. Both of these are indicators of longer-term success at weight loss and maintenance.by Cory David Kidd.Ph.D

On genus one mirror symmetry in higher dimensions and the BCOV conjectures

The mathematical physicists Bershadsky-Cecotti-Ooguri-Vafa (BCOV) proposed, in a seminal article from '94, a conjecture extending genus zero mirror symmetry to higher genera. With a view towards a refined formulation of the Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch theorem, we offer a mathematical description of the BCOV conjecture at genus one. As an application of the arithmetic Riemann-Roch theorem of Gillet-Soul\'e and of our previous results on the BCOV invariant, we establish this conjecture for Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in projective spaces. Our contribution takes place on the $B$-side, and together with the work of Zinger on the $A$-side, it provides the first complete examples of the mirror symmetry program in higher dimensions. The case of quintic threefolds was studied by Fang-Lu-Yoshikawa. Our approach also lends itself to arithmetic considerations of the BCOV invariant, and we study a Chowla-Selberg type theorem expressing it in terms of special $\Gamma$ values for certain Calabi-Yau manifolds with complex multiplication.Comment: Revised argument in sections 3 and 4, main results unchange

Alterations in the Properties of Neonatal Thalamocortical Synapses with Time in In Vitro Slices

New synapses are constantly being generated and lost in the living brain with only a subset of these being stabilized to form an enduring component of neuronal circuitry. The properties of synaptic transmission have primarily been established in a variety of in vitro neuronal preparations. It is not clear, however, if newly-formed and persistent synapses contribute to the results of these studies consistently throughout the lifespan of these preparations. In neonatal somatosensory, barrel, cortex we have previously hypothesized that a population of thalamocortical synapses displaying unusually slow kinetics represent newly-formed, default-transient synapses. This clear phenotype would provide an ideal tool to investigate if such newly formed synapses consistently contribute to synaptic transmission throughout a normal experimental protocol. We show that the proportion of synapses recorded in vitro displaying slow kinetics decreases with time after brain slice preparation. However, slow synapses persist in vitro in the presence of either minocycline, an inhibitor of microglia-mediated synapse elimination, or the TrkB agonist 7,8-dihydroxyflavone a promoter of synapse formation. These findings show that the observed properties of synaptic transmission may systematically change with time in vitro in a standard brain slice preparation

GEA 3162, a peroxynitrite donor, induces Bcl-2-sensitive, p53-independent apoptosis in murine bone marrow cells

AbstractApoptosis may be regulated by oxidants such as peroxynitrite (ONOO−). The tumour suppressor, p53, has been reported to play a crucial role in apoptosis induced by oxidants, therefore we assessed the ability of a ONOO− donor, GEA 3162, to activate caspases and induce mitochondrial permeability in a p53-deficient murine bone marrow cell line, Jaws II. Furthermore, these cells were stably transfected with Bcl-2, in order to investigate the impact of this survival protein on ONOO−-induced apoptosis. GEA 3162 activated caspases and induced loss of mitochondrial membrane potential in Jaws II cells. In particular, caspases 3 and 2 were activated, alongside minor activation of caspases 8 and 9, and apoptosis was partially dependent upon p38 MAP kinase activation, with little or no role for JNK. Overexpression of Bcl-2 abolished activation of all caspases and reduced the change in mitochondrial membrane potential. Thus, we have demonstrated that the ONOO− donor, GEA 3162, induces apoptosis in Jaws II murine myeloid cells despite lacking functional p53, via a pathway that principally involves caspases 2 and 3 and mitochondrial changes. This is blocked by overexpression of Bcl-2 via a mechanism that does not appear to merely reflect stabilisation of the mitochondrial membrane

Sociable robots: The role of presence and task in human-robot interaction

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-109).Human-robot interaction is an emerging area of study that is developing an understanding of how to build robots that are useful and effective in helping people perform tasks in particular domains. In particular, social robots, or those that help people as capable partners rather than as tools, are believed to be of greatest use for applications in entertainment, education, and healthcare because of their potential to be perceived as trusting, helpful, reliable, and engaging. This thesis explores how the robot's physical presence and proximity to a person influence a person's perception of these characteristics. Results from two experiments are reported: the first shows differences in participant responses to a robot, an animated character, and a human and the second shows the outcome of participants interacting with a robot or a robot presented on a television in two different types of tasks. Responses to the interactions were collected via questionnaire and videotape and are reported on scales measuring trust, perceived information quality, altruism, level of engagement, reliability, immediacy, credibility, and persuasiveness. The results of this research will contribute towards the goal of building robots that can effectively communicate with and assist humans in a variety of applications in domains that I believe will benefit from social robots.by Cory David Kidd.S.M

Sociable robot systems for real-world problems

Abstract — Human-robot interaction research is maturing to the point where we can begin to build systems that interact with people in their daily lives and provide support for particular needs. We propose that sociable robot systems are systems that comprise a sociable robot, other technological devices, methods for interaction, and methods for relationship creation and maintenance. These systems can be designed as solutions to address particular needs such as health care or behavior change goals. We discuss the social support benefits of creating a relationship between a person and a robot and offer ideas for how this might be done. A system that is currently under development in our lab to help obese patients who have recently lost weight maintain their target weight is presented as an example of this kind of sociable robot system. Index Terms — Human-robot interaction, sociable robots, sociable robot systems, obesit

Sociable robots : the role of presence and task in human-robot interaction

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-109).Human-robot interaction is an emerging area of study that is developing an understanding of how to build robots that are useful and effective in helping people perform tasks in particular domains. In particular, social robots, or those that help people as capable partners rather than as tools, are believed to be of greatest use for applications in entertainment, education, and healthcare because of their potential to be perceived as trusting, helpful, reliable, and engaging. This thesis explores how the robot's physical presence and proximity to a person influence a person's perception of these characteristics. Results from two experiments are reported: the first shows differences in participant responses to a robot, an animated character, and a human and the second shows the outcome of participants interacting with a robot or a robot presented on a television in two different types of tasks. Responses to the interactions were collected via questionnaire and videotape and are reported on scales measuring trust, perceived information quality, altruism, level of engagement, reliability, immediacy, credibility, and persuasiveness. The results of this research will contribute towards the goal of building robots that can effectively communicate with and assist humans in a variety of applications in domains that I believe will benefit from social robots.by Cory David Kidd.S.M