Ingo Lütkebohle

The bielefeld anthropomorphic robot head “Flobi”

A robots head is important both for directional sensors and, in human-directed robotics, as the single most visible interaction interface. However, designing a robots head faces contradicting requirements when integrating powerful sensing with social expression. Furher, reactions of the general public show that current head designs often cause negative user reactions and distract from the functional capabilities.

The curious robot - Structuring interactive robot learning

If robots are to succeed in novel tasks, they must be able to learn from humans. To improve such human-robot interaction, a system is presented that provides dialog structure and engages the human in an exploratory teaching scenario. Thereby, we specifically target untrained users, who are supported by mixed-initiative interaction using verbal and non-verbal modalities. We present the principles of dialog structuring based on an object learning and manipulation scenario. System development is following an interactive evaluation approach and we will present both an extensible, event-based interaction architecture to realize mixed-initiative and evaluation results based on a video-study of the system. We show that users benefit from the provided dialog structure to result in predictable and successful human-robot interaction.

A robot as fitness companion: Towards an interactive action-based motivation model

The topic of motivation is a crucial issue for various human-robot interaction (HRI) scenarios. Interactional aspects of motivation can be studied in human-human interaction (HHI) and build the basis for modeling a robots interactional conduct. Using an ethnographic approach we explored the factors relevant in the formation of motivation-relevant processes in an indoor-cycling activity. We propose an interactive, action-based motivation model for HRI that has been implemented in an autonomous robot system and tested during a long-term HRI study. The model is based on micro-analyses of human indoor cycling courses and resulted in an adaption of specific dialog patterns for HRI. A qualitative evaluation - accompanied by a quantitative analysis - demonstrated that the transfer of interaction patterns from HHI to HRI was successful with participants benefitting from the interaction experience (e.g., performance, subjective feeling of being motivated).

Where is this? - gesture based multimodal interaction with an anthropomorphic robot

Traditional visitor guidance often suffers from the representational gap between 2D map representations and the real-world. Therefore, we propose a robotic information system that exploits its physical embodiment to present a readily interpretable interface for visitor guidance. Similar to human receptionists, it offers a familiar point of reference that can be approached by visitors and supports intuitive interaction through both speech and gesture. We focus on employing an anthropomorphic body to improve guidance functionality and interpretability of the interaction. The map, which contains knowledge about the environment, is used by robot and visitor simultaneously, with the robot translating its content into gestures. This setting affords disambiguation of information requests and thus improves robustness. It has been tested both in a laboratory demonstration setting and in our university hall, where people asked for information and thereby used the system in a natural way.

Towards automated execution and evaluation of simulated prototype HRI experiments

Autonomous robots are highly relevant targets for interaction studies, but can exhibit behavioral variability that confounds experimental validity. Currently, testing on real systems is the only means to prevent this, but remains very labour-intensive and often happens too late. To improve this situation, we are working towards early testing by means of partial simulation, with automated assessment, and based upon continuous software integration to prevent regressions. We will introduce the concept and describe a proof-of-concept that demonstrates fast feedback and coherent experiment results across repeated trials. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.2.5 [Software Engineering]: Testing and Debugging— Designs, Program Verification

Talking with robots about objects: a system-level evaluation in HRI

We present the design process, realization and evaluation of a robot system for interactive object learning. The system-oriented evaluation, in particular, addresses an open problem for the evaluation of systems, where overall user satisfaction depends not only on the performance of the parts, but also on their combination, and on user behavior. Based on the PARADISE method known from spoken dialog systems, we have defined and applied internal and external metrics for fine-grained and largely automatable identification of such relationships. Through evaluation with n=28 subjects, indicator functions explaining up to 55% of variation in several satisfaction metrics were found. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the systems interaction style reduces the need for instruction and successfully recovers partial failures.

A Mixed-Initiative Approach to Interactive Robot Tutoring

Integrating the components described in the previous articles of this chapter, we introduce the Bielefeld “Curious Robot”, which is able to acquire new knowledge and skills in direct human-robot interaction. This paper focuses on the cognitive architecture of the overall system. We propose to combine (i) a communication layer based on a generic, human-accessible XML data format, (ii) multiple low-level sensor and control processes publishing their sensor information into the system and receiving commands or parameterizations from higher-level deliberative processes, and (iii) high-level coordination processes based on hierarchical state machines. The efficiency of the proposed approach is shown in an interactive tutoring scenario, where the Bielefeld “Curious Robot”, a bimanual robot system, should learn to identify, grasp, and clean various everyday objects from a table. The capability of the system to interact with lay persons is proven in a user study.

Can I Help You

Social interaction between humans takes place in the spatial dimension on a daily basis. We occupy space for ourselves and respect the dynamics of spaces that are occupied by others. In human-robot interaction, the focus has been on other topics so far. Therefore, this work applies a spatial model to a humanoid robot and implements an attention system that is connected to it. The resulting behaviors have been verified in an on-line video study. The questionnaire revealed that these behaviors are applicable and result in a robot that has been perceived as more interested in the human and shows its attention and intentions to a higher degree.

Simulation and HRI Recent Perspectives with the MORSE Simulator

Simulation in robotics is often a love-hate relationship: while simulators do save us a lot of time and effort compared to regular deployment of complex software architectures on complex hardware, simulators are also known to evade many of the real issues that robots need to manage when they enter the real world. Because humans are the paragon of dynamic, unpredictable, complex, real world entities, simulation of human-robot interactions may look condemn to fail, or, in the best case, to be mostly useless. This collective article reports on five independent applications of the MORSE simulator in the field of human-robot interaction: It appears that simulation is already useful, if not essential, to successfully carry out research in the field of HRI, and sometimes in scenarios we do not anticipate.

Continuous integration for iterative validation of simulated robot models

Simulated environments often provide the first, and are usually the most frequent, test environment for robotic systems, primarily due to their cost and safety advantages. Unfortunately, changing aspects of both, the simulation and the real robot, as well as actuator control algorithms are often not taken into account when relying on simulation results. In this paper we present a continuous integration approach to verify simulated robot models in an integrated and frequent manner, comprising a simulated and a real robot for comparison. The central aspect of our concept is to iteratively assess the fidelity of simulated robot models. In an exemplary case study we distilled a first set of requirements and metrics, which can be used by developers to verify their algorithms and to automatically detect further system changes.