Robot's Influent Speaking Just to Get Attention from You
October 22, 2015 | TOYOHASHI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGYEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Communication in human dialogue is based on one another's words and body language. We can sense whether the other person is distracted, and we change the course of our conversation and our actions to regain their attention.
Most existing robots, however, still use monologue mechanisms, even when engaging in dialogue with a person. For example, they continue speaking in the same way, even if the person is not paying attention.
Researchers at the Interactions and Communication Design (ICD) Lab at Toyohashi University of Technology have devised the novel robotic communication approach that takes into account the listener's attention. The robot follows a person's gaze and determines if that person is distracted by, for instance, a sports event in the background or something in their surroundings. The robot bends forward and nods if the person is watching television or it turns its head and looks around if the person is looking elsewhere. These behaviors are accompanied by appropriate utterance intended to regain the person's attention. Experiments have confirmed that these adaptive interactions considerably increase the other party's attention focused toward the robot as compared with the gestures and speech generated without considering the person's gaze.
"We have set up an environment to manipulate the person's attention with an engaging sports program broadcast simultaneously with the human-robot interaction. This allowed us to validate a suite of conversation situations and utterance-generation patterns," said Hitomi Matsushita, first author of the conference paper on the robot.
"Talking-Ally dynamically determines and synchronizes its body language, turn initials, and entrust behaviors within the speech, according to the person's attention coordinates," Professor Michio Okada, head of the ICD Lab, explained. "Our analysis shows that this is significantly more persuasive than generating these behaviors randomly."
The experimental results significantly contribute to the HRI community by confirming that adaptive communication is essential in acquiring and maintaining attention during conversation. Moreover, Talking-Ally demonstrates a specific communication protocol that is shown to successfully re-engage a distracted person. This is instrumental in achieving persuasive communication and convincing interaction with the robot. Such a platform can ultimately be tailored for use with any HRI application.
Talking-Ally currently chooses its responsive gestures at random from a set that suitably corresponds to the person's level of attention. Future work on the project will include further customizing the robot's interaction to individuals by choosing a specific body language to use in each situation based on subtle cues from the other party.
Suggested Items
Growth Potential: Electronics Manufacturing Driving Massive Surge in Manufacturing Investment
04/22/2024 | Shawn DuBravac, IPCIn the early months of the pandemic, investment in manufacturing infrastructure, such as plants and production facilities, declined sharply. Real investment dropped over 11%, before finally recovering to pre-pandemic levels in the first half of 2022. Over the past two years, however, several factors have combined to drive manufacturing investment to record levels.
Digitalisation and ESG
04/19/2024 | Marina Hornasek-Metzl, AT&SDigitalisation and ESG are prominent and high-priority topics in the global business community. The first focuses on applying technology throughout the value chain to produce faster, smarter, and more desirable business outcomes. The latter emphasises the broader value a business is expected to create for its stakeholders from an environmental, social, and governance perspective.
Designing Electronics for High Thermal Loads
04/16/2024 | Akber Roy, Rush PCB Inc.Developing proactive thermal management strategies is important in the early stages of the PCB design cycle to minimize costly redesign iterations. Here, I delve into key aspects of electronic design that hold particular relevance for managing heat in electronic systems. Each of these considerations plays a pivotal role in enhancing the reliability and performance of the overall system.
FPT Unveils Strategic Directions, “All In” on AI, Automotive and Semiconductor
04/15/2024 | BUSINESS WIREFPT Corporation (FPT) announced its strategic directions for the 2024-2026 period at the 2024 Annual General Meeting, with five focused areas defined as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Automotive, Semiconductor, Digital Transformation, and Green Transformation.
It’s Only Common Sense: Here’s What To Do After IPC APEX EXPO 2024
04/15/2024 | Dan Beaulieu -- Column: It's Only Common SenseYou had a great time last week at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. Now you’re back home and ready to go on to other things. Au contraire mon frère. Now the work really gets started, and you must capitalize on all the good work you did last week. Follow up on the connections you made, the leads you created, and the partnerships and relationships you developed.