Improving Human and Quadruped Robot Interaction

It is a clear trend that over the coming decade, we can expect to see quadruped robots, which offer great mobility, become widely adopted across different sectors, including industry, logistics, hospitality, and healthcare/social care. People across these sectors will be expected to work closely alongside such quadruped robots. However, it remains unknown (1) how best humans can effectively interact and collaborate with quadruped robots; and (2) for how to establish and maintain social bonds between human and quadruped robots.

In this project, we aim to tackle the above two challenges. We plan to conduct experiments in the advanced motion capture laboratory with the state-of-the-art quadruped and animal-like robots (e.g., spot from Boston Dynamics, Miro and Aibo). We will also bring some pet dogs into the laboratory for experiments. We will aim to understand what physical behaviors people want to see in quadruped robot companions; what physical behaviors will lead to building social relationships between humans and companion robots; the extent to which these physical behaviors can be implemented into quadruped robots (e.g., Spot, Miro, Aibo, etc).

Proposed methods:

From a computing science perspective, the student will engage with system development and integration (developing operational models of animal behaviors and implementing them on quadruped robot platforms). From psychology/social science perspective, the student will measure human and robot interaction via qualitative measures(such as questionnaires and participatory design interview approaches), non-invasive mobile brain imaging (record human brain activity when interact with the quadruped robots), physical response time, and pupillometry (eye tracking when people engage with these robots).

Expected outcomes and impact

The outcome of this project will be new knowledge, strategies and technologies to support harmonious interaction between humans and quadruped robots. The topics spans Psychology,...