D9.2. First skeleton companions M14 Result of completion of T9.1.2 Report, live experiment

Trying to understand the role of foam in lirec, in order to start working on what deliverables can be for this milestone.

Dissemination:

• Do we need to start thinking about Lirec in art galleries, art installations - for wider dissemination to the public?
• How to convey long term companionship in such a format?
• What about downloadable companions/games for the masses?
• Downloadable iphone/android/equiv apps?
• Get these available early - and with source - to start collecting a momentum of interest

Pleo and existing communities of robot hackers:

• Can we use the pleo as a tool for dissemination to a community with an existing robot framework?
• Are there any other similar communities? (Lego Mindstorms?)
• Is the pleo being used in any of the scenarios?
• Can we get/do we need an PDK for any of this to work?

ION

• What nature is the development of companions using ION?
  • Java/other code?
  • XML descriptions of personalities etc?
  • Where will this development material live?
  • Will it be shared between partners?
• Can we use the Pleo with ION?

These are some vague ideas and directions we could head in. I'm not sure whether foam's work is best done as theming and adapting the existing lirec scenarios, or how much we need to/can head in our own direction. I guess the nature of this will become clearer after forthcoming meetings.

I'm assuming foam needs to look at widening the interest of the work done to as big an audience as possible. This means the other research partners can concentrate on the scientific nature of the scenarios/experiments.

We need to consider what access to hardware we will have in the short term, and how far we could get with development for this deliverable. It would be good to have some foam specific goals which can give direction to the development… so with that in mind:

What:

• Multiple interacting agents
• Long term memory and personality based on fictional characters
• Short term memory based on beginning of play
• Audience participation

Why:

• Audience familiar with characters
• Could form a good benchmark for social interaction
• How do they resolve interesting social situations
• Start in the middle of a familiar story?
• What happens after the story ends?

Further:

• Heron's Nauplius
• Robot Macbeth
• Robot Soap Operas

What:

• Look into alternative methods of communicating affective state to the user
• Non-vocal sounds
• Non-literal visuals

Why:

• Uncanny valley
• Remove the problem of simulating human expressions
• The challenge of meeting the robot halfway in mutual understanding might be more engaging
• Task of deciphering results in more implied/imagined content
• People work together to try and understand

Further:

• Dust bunnies
• Robot Semaphore

What:

• Interface to allow the user to easily build and configure robots
• At the software level
• Reconfigurable layer 2 ↔ layer 3
• Need some common goal, or competition

Why:

• Suspicion that the attachment gained by having a role in the design of a robot is greater than a finely tuned system (or even a system which works)
• Present the internals of the system to the user in some clear manner
• Long term attachment through tweakability

Further:

• CRobots

What:

• Physical dependency
  • Needs feeding
  • Needs transport - has wheels, but asks to be carried everywhere
  • Needs light - not solar powered, but doesn't like the dark
  • Gets cold - needs physical contact
• Emotional
  • Paranoia - requires constant reassuring noises
  • Anger - needs calming, physical contact
  • Sadness - needs singing to
  • Gets over excited - needs calming down
• All of the above?!
• It may be important that they are entirely unnecessary needs

Why:

• Sounds really irritating, but - Tamagotchi
• Long term attachment through manipulation of the caring instinct and guilt
• The feeling that something is dependant on you
• More effective/complex strategies can be learnt over time - “give him to me, I know how to calm him down”

Further:

• "Inhumane" treatment of robots in the army

How can some of this relate to the existing scenarios? [TODO]