Robot Improv : Using Drama to Create Believable Agents Allison Bruce, Jonathan Knight, Samuel Listopad, Brian Magerko, Illah Nourbakhsh Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Motivation Physical robots as believable agents Instead of modeling human behavior, model the behavior of actors Mechanism is known Designed for believability Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Definitions Hero Villain Outer obstacles Inner obstacles Given circumstances Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon The Play Two robots in acting class Improvisation: an introductory exercise Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Implementation Nomad Scouts Planner and motion control code written in Java 900 Mhz Radio Modems Text-to-speech synthesis software Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Play Architecture Room Props Actors Inner obstacles Goals Behaviors Actions Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Execution Loop Listen and Update Success function Inner obstacle perturbation and decay Choose Action 2-level hierarchical planner Act Sonar-based obstacle avoidance Communicate Position, Action, Dialog Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Experiments First public performance April ’99 at CMU Performed at AAAI ’99 robotics exhibition 10-15 times using 6 actor personalities Performed 18 more times at CMU for video documentation Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Performances Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon

Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon Results Embodiment matters Improvisation relies on physical factors Possible improvements More sophisticated dialog selection Transitions between behaviors Public response Future work Longer, more complex plays Acting with humans Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon