Human-Robot Dynamic Social Interaction

Abstract

To determine whether a physical robot produces a more direct emotional coupling with human beings than a computer-generated graphical image of a similar robot (agent), we performed interactive experiments comparing human-agent and human-robot interactions. We found that robots were better communication partners with humans under some conditions. At the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, we then constructed a robot that has human-like facial expressions and shoulder and neck gestures. After moving it to NTT Communication Science Laboratories in Kyoto, we measured the responses of human subjects under various conditions. Experiments to measure the effects of eye contact and shared-attention are currently under way.