A Motion System for Social and Animated Robots. (5th May 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Saldien, Jelle; Vanderborght, Bram; Goris, Kristof; Van Damme, Michael; Lefeber, Dirk
• Is Part Of: International journal of advanced robotic systems. Volume 11:Number 5(2014)
• Publication Date: 2014-05-05
• Subjects: Social Robot -- HRI -- Animation -- Motion Control; Robotics -- Periodicals; Robotics; Periodicals; 629.892
• DOI: 10.5772/58402
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1729-8806

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative motion system that is used to control the motions and animations of a social robot. The social robot Probo is used to study Human-Robot Interactions (HRI), with a special focus on Robot Assisted Therapy (RAT). When used for therapy it is important that a social robot is able to create an "illusion of life" so as to become a believable character that can communicate with humans. The design of the motion system in this paper is based on insights from the animation industry. It combines operator-controlled animations with low-level autonomous reactions such as attention and emotional state. The motion system has a Combination Engine, which combines motion commands that are triggered by a human operator with motions that originate from different units of the cognitive control architecture of the robot. This results in an interactive robot that seems alive and has a certain degree of "likeability". The Godspeed Questionnaire Series is used to evaluate the animacy and likeability of the robot in China, Romania and Belgium.