Tank is a receptionist. He's competent at his job, greeting visitors at Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science and giving directions. But sometimes he can be whiny and not all that helpful. Ask him how he is, and you'll get an earful: Tank, it turns out, was a CIA operative in Iraq before launching a new career in the service industry. There's another unusual thing about Tank: He's not human. He's a robot. He looks like a Shop Vac with a flat panel monitor for a head. But his face is human and expressive, and his eyes move from side to side. To communicate with him, people type their messages on a keyboard, and he responds in a smooth monotone. After the chat, he leaves them with these parting words of wisdom: ‘Next time your computer isn't working, don't hit it. We have feelings, too’. Five minutes with Tank, and one starts to believe it's true. People tend to humanize their machines. They've been known to yell at their computers when they malfunction, or at least talk to them. In another Carnegie Mellon project, a researcher in human-computer interaction is studying the way families behaved when a robotic vacuum cleaner was introduced into the household. The study involved six families in the Pittsburgh and Harrisburg areas. Half were given Roombas -- a robot vacuum cleaner made by iRobot -- and the other half was given Flair handheld upright vacuums. The families with the Flair showed little or no change in the way they cleaned, and some lost interest in using it. But the robot changed routines. In most households, women had handled the bulk of the cleaning chores. But men and children got interested when they could use the Roomba.
The university's Social Robots Project investigates human-robot social interaction and long-term relationships between human and machine. The robots are designed to perform practical services, such as giving visitors directions. But they also are given personalities. While Tank is a product of the robotics and computer science departments, he crosses disciplines. Students in the drama department develop an ongoing story line and write dialogue for Tank. The soap opera/serial stories help reinforce the evolving character and compel people to keep up with what's new. In one chapter of his life, he was excited about an upcoming date. It didn't go well, and the robot was depressed the following week. If someone types in a swear word or is abusive, Tank will be in a bad mood. When that happens, visitors react to him differently. Regulars familiar with the robot will stop and chat, while strangers will avoid the robot. Humanizing technology is important, especially when developing robots to work with people who aren't used to interacting with technology, such as the elderly. Medical-service robots could help care for frail seniors -- reminding them to take medications, helping with physical therapy exercises at home or navigating with automated wheelchairs or walkers. Interactive computer technology also is working with the young. CMU's Project LISTEN (Literacy Innovation that Speech Technology Enables) uses computers to tutor elementary school children. Students read aloud to the automated tutor, which senses when they pause or stumble over words, and helps them through the problem passage. Aimed at helping struggling readers, it also rewards success with verbal praise.
More information:
http://roboceptionist.org/
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09081/956901-42.stm
More information:
http://roboceptionist.org/
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09081/956901-42.stm