A Large-scale Three-Dimensional (3D) Printer and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machine for Implementing Deformable Zoomorphic Robots

人机交互（HRI）是一个研究领域，旨在理解、设计和评估由人类使用或与人类一起使用的社交机器人。社交机器人由物理机器人硬件组件组成，通过网络基础设施作为云服务支持的网络物理计算系统与人进行交互。恐怖谷理论描述了不完美的人类形象所带来的令人不安的影响，这些不完美的人类形象一直主导着HRI。提到恐怖谷，社交机器人通常构成一种拟人化或兽形化的形式。例如，社交机器人通常表现得像人类或动物，例如模仿人类/动物的行为和情感表达，具有语言、手势、动作和眼睛注视特征。先前的研究发现，具有情感表达的具身人形机器人在发布个人信息时比无实体的交互式信息亭更容易获得用户的信任。申请人申请资助大型三维（3D）打印机和计算机数字控制（CNC）机器，以通过分层方法创建3D可变形的兽形身体部位。同时使用数控机床和3D打印机将大大提高高素质人才（HQP）的培训。此外，该设备将有助于将他们在仿真软件上构建的动物形体部件设计转化为复杂的材料原型，无论是3D打印机中的聚乳酸（PLA）还是CNC上使用的任何材料，如木材或金属。在新冠肺炎疫情期间，申请人的研究团队利用石膏板、机械部件、计算机硬件和软件，设计并制作了一个带有机械尾巴的可变形四足平台原型，用于表达情感。根据恐怖谷理论，我们计划在四足平台的基础上构建一系列中大型的可变形兽形身体部位，比如马驹和狗。我们将专注于人力资源研究所的情感表达和人类参与。情绪是人类认知和行为的重要组成部分，由可识别的来源引起，例如事件或看到其他人的情绪。情绪对于促进或威胁人们所遇到的不同情况的生存是必要的。我们将开发动物形的身体部位，用于行为反应，帮助决策，促进人类参与。根据滑铁卢大学在2020年发表的一份名为《大流行让人们对社交机器人更开放》的研究报告，研究人员发现，加拿大人会在大流行后购买能够表达情感的机器人。该报告还显示，社交机器人可以减少疫情期间严重的隔离效应。现在是加拿大研究人员研究具有HRI情感表达的不同动物型机器人的时候了。

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a research area of understanding, designing, and evaluating social robots for use by or with humans, respectively. A social robot consists of a physical robot hardware component to interact with humans connected through a network infrastructure as a cyber-physical computing system supported with Cloud services. The Uncanny Valley theory describes the disturbing effect of imperfect human likenesses that have dominated HRI. Referring to the Uncanny Valley, social robots usually constitute a form of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. For example, social robots typically behave like humans or animals, such as mimicry of human/animal behavior and emotional expression, with speech, gestures, movements, and eye-gaze features. Prior research found that it is much easier for an embodied humanoid robot with emotional expression to gain users' trust to release personal information than a disembodied interactive kiosk. The applicant requests funds for a large-scale Three-dimensional (3D) printer and a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to create 3D deformable zoomorphic body parts through a layering method. Using both a CNC machine and a 3D printer will significantly improve the training of High-Quality Personnel (HQP). In addition, the equipment will help to transform their designs of zoomorphic body parts built on simulation software to complex material prototypes, whether it is Polylactic Acid (PLA) in the 3D printer or any material used on the CNC such as wood or metals. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the applicant's research team had designed and built a prototype deformable four-legged platform with a mechanical tail to express emotions using plasterboards, mechanical parts, computer hardware, and software. According to the Uncanny Valley theory, we plan to build a series of medium-to-large scale deformable zoomorphic body parts based on the four-legged platform, such as a foal and a dog. We will focus on emotional expression and human engagement for HRI. Emotions are an essential component of human cognition and behavior caused by an identifiable source, such as an event or seeing emotions in other people. Emotions are necessary to either promote or threaten the survival of different situations that people encounter. We will develop the zoomorphic body parts for behavioral responses, help in decision-making, and facilitate human engagement. Referring to a study report called "Pandemic makes people more open to social robots" by the University of Waterloo in 2020, the researchers found that Canadians would purchase a robot with the ability to show emotion for companionship after the pandemic. The report also showed that social robots could reduce severe isolation effects during the pandemic. It is a time for Canadian researchers to work on different zoomorphic robots with emotional expressions in HRI.