1. Herme: An experimental/dialog platform Ciaran Dougherty Trinity College Dublin, Centre for Language Communication Studies, Speech Communications Lab

2. Herme Built using LegoNXT robot platform Microphones, Cameras Currently in TCD's Science Gallery Live since April

3. Goals Study human/device interactions Better understand the unique differences between human/human dialogs and human/machine dialogs Experiment with tricks to maintain “engagement”

4. Problems Isolating audio in Real World environments  DIT has tech which can do, can't afford. False positives, negatives in facial recognition software Hardware problems  Overheating, interoperability Subject/Dialog problems Recording problems

5. (Preliminary) Results Timing data from Wizard of Oz Subjective improvement through use of turn grabbers People seem to accept generic phrases as most cooperative interpretations  Solidifying & limiting script...including with greetings and “dismissals” Employees, who know better, treat Herme as a person

6. Prognosis Currently implementing new inputs  Motion detection  Improved speech detection? Weaning away from WOZ, using timing data  Attempt to use Timing data with similar, but different script Analyze data to compare gestures to human/human interactions

7. Questions?