Research Topics

We investigate human-robot interaction and minimal social robots, operationalizing methods from the performing arts to bootstrap the development of robot character and intelligence.

SOCIAL PRIVACY

We have been investigating the use of Theater Methods in making implicit human social expectations about a robot’s use of their personal data explicit. Our recent paper A Robot Barista Comments on its Clients: Social Attitudes Toward Robot Data Use is published at the International Conference of Human-Robot Interaction.

CHAIRBOTS

Several projects in the lab make use of our low-cost ChairBot platform, constructed of the NeatoBotvac, IKEA Chair and connecting hardware. We are exploring multi-robot multi-human social interaction, minimal social robots, intelligent conference days, and have a variety of artistic collaborations using this platform.

VIRTUAL REALITY

Human social attributions toward simple robots are influenced by their behaviors, but also their physical appearance. Our current virtual reality efforts explore the impact of robot materiality on human interpretation of robot intent, capability, and character. The robots bump into the participants in both VR and the physical room.