Working to improve the social awareness of the latest robots
PORTLAND, Oregon: In “Star Wars,” R2-D2 is the perfect example of a likeable and effective robot. Though he looks and sounds nothing like a human — with no face or hands, and communicating with only whistles and beeps — he clearly has a connection to his human co-workers.
“R2-D2 does a good job of illustrating that he’s paying attention. That’s important for people, especially in a collaborative scenario where you really want to understand what the other person needs,” said Heather Knight, an assistant professor of computer science at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering.
Although moviemakers have long seen the purpose in creating charismatic robots that fit in with human culture, roboticists have traditionally overlooked this area. But that is rapidly changing, according to Knight.
“There is a major shift in robotics right now, with much of the innovation and funding focused on integrating robots into human environments, from delivery robots to collaborative manufacturing,” she said. “We need to start mastering what I like to call ‘artificial social intelligence’ to make these robots successful.”
Artificial social intelligence would help robots interpret and mimic human cues — like body language, gaze direction, movement patterns, and facial expressions — to make them more effective at collaborating with humans, which is the goal of social robotics. Knight was introduced to social robotics as an undergraduate at MIT, where she worked with Cynthia Breazeal, associate professor of media arts and sciences, who is considered to be the pioneer of social robotics.
Knight has performed internationally, including on the TED stage, with her joke-telling robots. She is the executive director of the Robot Film Festival, and she was the robotic artist in residence at X, the research lab at Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
Borrowing methods from dance, improvisation, and stand-up comedy, Knight is bringing together the worlds of entertainment and engineering to make technology more effective and charismatic. Because the field of social robotics is still young, Knight says she sometimes has to explain to colleagues why it is important to integrate social intelligence into robots. But not at Oregon State.
“We have one of the most powerful collections of humanrobot interaction researchers in the country,” she said. — Newswise