HCC: Small: A Physical Vocabulary for Human-Robot Interaction

我们是自己成功的牺牲品。我们现在可以在现实环境中部署移动机器人，并让它们在很长一段时间内完全自主运行。我们不再需要在我们的机器人周围配备研究生辩论者，以保持它们的功能，并与普通公众保持安全距离。这些技术上的成功意味着，普通公众现在必须直接与机器人互动，而不需要翻译的帮助。但公众对这种互动的准备不足，因为他们不熟悉真正的机器人及其工作原理。因此，互动往往进行得很差；机器人执行任务受到阻碍，人类也不高兴。为了让人们能够舒适地与机器人互动，他们必须感觉到他们理解它在想什么，它试图做什么，以及它将采取的行动。此外，人们必须能够通过观察机器人一小段时间来推断这些信息，就像我们对我们遇到的其他人类所做的那样。这里的根本问题是，人类通过一种非语言的“词汇”来交流大量信息，其中肢体语言(我们如何站立，我们如何握住手臂等)、眼神交流、点头以及其他表面上对手头的任务并不重要的微妙暗示扮演着重要的角色。我们这样做是自然而然的，没有刻意的努力。从背景来看，这些信息允许我们以惊人的准确性推断另一个人的精神状态、目标和意图；这反过来又允许我们预测给定的互动将如何展开，并使我们能够对其进行一定程度的控制。因为人们认为这种能力是理所当然的，所以当这种能力缺失时，他们会受到影响，就像目前与移动机器人互动时经常出现的情况一样。国际和平研究所打算在当前项目中解决这一不足之处。他认为，为了让人与机器人的互动尽可能自然，我们必须让机器人掌握我们的身体词汇，并确保它们按照社会规范适当地使用词汇。为了实现这一目标，PI将转向表演艺术，在那里演员接受身体表达的训练。一个好的演员可以通过简单地以一种特定的方式走过舞台来传达关于角色的精神状态、目标和意图的大量信息。这些动作可能是模式化的，可能是夸张的，也可能是微妙的，但它们旨在传达有关角色内在心理状态的信息。演员使用的技术经过数百年的磨练和改进，并在普通公众身上进行了有效性测试。在这项研究中，PI将利用这些洞察力和技能来开发一种物理词汇，可以向与机器人交互的人类传达信念、意图和目标，从而使人们能够更好地预测机器人的行动。最后，PI将严格评估这些操作，以验证它们实际上是有用的。更广泛的影响：机器人越来越成为我们生活的一部分，公众迟早会被迫与它们打交道。如果我们对这些互动的物理方面有所了解，机器人融入我们日常生活的痛苦和痛苦就会少得多。

We are the victims of our own success. We can now deploy mobile robots in real-world environments and have them operate completely autonomously for extended periods of time. We no longer have to surround our robots with graduate student wranglers to keep them functional, and to keep the general public at a safe distance. These technical successes mean that members of the general public must now interact directly with robots, without the aid of an interpreter. But members of the public are poorly equipped for such interactions, since they are unfamiliar with real robots and how they work. Thus, the interactions often go poorly; the robot is hindered in performing its task, and the human is unhappy. For people to be comfortable interacting with a robot, they must feel that they understand what it's thinking, what it's trying to do, and the actions that it will take. Moreover, people must be able to deduce this information from observing the robot for a short period of time, just as we do with other humans that we encounter. The fundamental problem here is that humans communicate a wealth of information by means of a non-verbal "vocabulary" in which body language (how we stand, how we hold our arms, etc.), eye contact, nods, and other subtle cues ostensibly not essential to the task at hand play significant roles. We do this naturally, and without conscious effort. Taken in context, this information allows us to infer another person's state of mind, goals, and intentions with surprising accuracy; this, in turn, allows us to predict how a given interaction will unfold, and gives us some control over it. Because people take this ability for granted, they suffer when it is absent, as is currently often the case when interacting with a mobile robot. The PI intends to address this deficiency in the current project. He argues that to make human-robot interactions as natural as possible, we must equip robots with our physical vocabulary and ensure that they use it appropriately, following social norms. To achieve this goal the PI will turn to the performing arts, where actors are trained to express themselves physically. A good actor can convey a vast amount of information about a character's state of mind, goals, and intentions by simply walking across the stage in a particular way. The actions may be styled, larger-than-life, or subtle, but they are intended to convey information about the character's internal mental state. The techniques that actors employ have been honed and refined for hundreds of years and tested for effectiveness on the general public. In this research, the PI will exploit such insights and skills to develop a physical vocabulary that can communicate beliefs, intentions, and goals to humans interacting with a robot, thereby enabling people to better predict the robot's actions. Finally, the PI will rigorously evaluate these actions to verify that they are actually useful. Broader Impacts: Robots are becoming more and more a part of our lives, and members of the public will be forced to deal with them sooner or later. If we have an understanding of the physical aspects of these interactions, the integration of robots into our everyday lives will be made much less painful and distressing.