Human-Robot Interaction -Emerging Opportunities Pramila Rani 1997A3PS071 October 27,2006

Two Faces of Robotics Traditional “industry robots” – for assembly and manufacturing “Service and entertainment robots” – for… well, service and entertainment

Intelligent & Autonomous Robots - Emerging Focus in Robotics  The Robot “Invasion” There is a projected increase of 1,145% in the number of personal service robots in use within a year In , more than 4 million new units are forecasted to be added!!!  Need for Natural and Intuitive Human-Robot Communication Unlike industrial robots, personal and professional service robots will need to communicate more naturally and spontaneously with people around Robots will be expected to be understanding, emphatic and intelligent

Making Robots Communicate  Attempt to mimic Human-Human Interaction More than 70% of communication is non- verbal or implicit 7% percent of the emotional meaning of a message is communicated verbally. About 38% by paralanguage and 55% via nonverbal channels [1]  Most Significant Channels of Implicit Communication in Humans Facial Expressions Vocal Intonation Gestures and Postures Physiology [1] Mehrabian, A. (1971). Silent Messages. Wadsworth, Belmont, California

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)  Definition:" The study of humans, robots and the ways in which they influence each other”  Vital component for autonomous robots  Draws from advancement in computer technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, speech recognition and simulation, image processing and affective computing

Benefits of Advancement in HRI Robots would be:  Functional in dynamic & unstructured environments  Easily operable by users  Capable of engaging in multi- modal communication based on user speech, vision, touch and affect  More autonomous, reducing manning effort

Evolution of Human-Robot Interfaces  Remote Control & keyboard  Tele-operation  Speech  Vision  Physical embodiment  Physiological signals

Personal & Professional Service Robots - Applications Search & Rescue Space Exploration Personal ServiceProfessional Service Education & Entertainment

Opportunities  Higher Education & Research Social Robotics – MIT Media Lab Multi-modal human-robot communication - University of British Columbia Human-robot interaction architectures – Carnegie Melon University Sensors and perception for HRI - University of Southern California Museum robotics – Carnegie Melon University Educational Robotics – Vanderbilt University Urban Search and Rescue – University of South Florida

Prominent Professors in HRI Cynthia BreazealMIT Robin MurphyUniversity of South Florida Elizabeth CroftUniversity of British Columbia Sebastian ThrunStanford University` Nilanjan SarkarVanderbilt University Rosalind PicardMIT Reid SimmonsCarnegie Melon University Michael A. GoodrichBrigham Young University Marjorie SkubicUniversity of Missouri-Columbia Ronald ArkinGeorgia Tech University Aude BillardSwiss Federal Institute of technology Henrik ChristensenKungl Tekniska Högskolan (KTH)

Opportunities (contd…)  Career in HRI Academia Research and Development Intelligent Robot Design (ActivMedia Robotics) Service Robots (iRobot Corporation) Industrial research – Sony, Honda, Mitsubishi Automobile industry – Ford, Honda, GM

My Dissertation – Making Emotion-Sensitive Robots  My dissertation Psychophysiology-Based Affective Communication for Implicit Human-Robot Interaction  Developing an intuitive affect*-sensitive human-robot interaction framework where affective states are inferred from the human's physiological signals robot working with a human detects and recognizes his/her probable affective state robot adapts its behavior in response to the human's affective state such interaction reduces human anxiety, improves performance and overall interaction experience

Finding the Right Information  University Websites  Alumni Network  HRI Journals, Conferences, and Magazines  Project Websites  HRI resources on the web

Points to Take Home  HRI – an emerging areas in Robotics- fun, interesting and challenging  Bright prospects for higher education and career opportunities  Students of CS, EEE, ME, and Instru can apply  Plan ahead for MS, PhD. Research Universities and Professors  Good Luck!

References  Publications R. Picard, Affective Computing, MIT press, P. Rani, N. Sarkar, C. Smith, and L. Kirby, “Anxiety Detecting Robotic Systems – Towards Implicit Human- Robot Collaboration,” Robotica, Vol. 22, Issue. 1, pp , Liu, C, Rani, P., Sarkar, N., "Comparison of Machine Learning Techniques for Affect Detection in Human Robot Interaction," IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, August 2005, Canada. B. Reeves and C. Nass, The Media Equation, (Cambridge University press, 1996)  Pictures