Alle Publikationen
2019
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(2019): On Proactive, Transparent, and Verifiable Ethical Reasoning for Robots. In: Proceedings of the IEEE 107 (3), S. 541-561. DOI: 10.1109/JPROC.2019.2898267
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JPROC.2019.2898267 Abstract: Previous work on ethical machine reasoning has largely been theoretical, and where such systems have been implemented, it has, in general, been only initial proofs of principle. Here, we address the question of desirable attributes for such systems to improve their real world utility, and how controllers with these attributes might be implemented. We propose that ethically critical machine reasoning should be proactive, transparent, and verifiable. We describe an architecture where the ethical reasoning is handled by a separate layer, augmenting a typical layered control architecture, ethically moderating the robot actions. It makes use of a simulation-based internal model and supports proactive, transparent, and verifiable ethical reasoning. To do so, the reasoning component of the ethical layer uses our Python-based belief-desire-intention (BDI) implementation. The declarative logic structure of BDI facilitates both transparency, through logging of the reasoning cycle, and formal verification methods. To prove the principles of our approach, we use a case study implementation to experimentally demonstrate its operation. Importantly, it is the first such robot controller where the ethical machine reasoning has been formally verified.
Keywords: BDI implementation, belief desire intention implementation, control engineering computing, Design methodology, ethical machine reasoning, ethical reasoning, Ethics, formal verification, ieee xplore, intelligent robots, layered control architecture, learning (artificial intelligence), machine learning, Moral & Ethik, Predictive models, Python, robot controller, robot programming, Robots, safety, simulation-based internal model, Social implications of technology, software architecture, transparency -
(2019): Interactional Moral Systems: A Model of Social Mechanisms for the Moral Regulation of Exchange Processes in Agent Societies. In: IEEE Transactions on Computational Social Systems 6 (4), S. 778-796. DOI: 10.1109/TCSS.2019.2926950
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TCSS.2019.2926950 Abstract: In this paper, we first introduce the concepts of moral agent and moral system of agent society and, in particular, the central concept of moral agent sensible to moral sanction. Next, we introduce the concepts of moral gain and moral loss in social exchanges and of reputation-based persistence of exchange processes. Following, we elaborate the notion of negotiated moral regulation of reputation-based persistent exchange processes. Finally, we combine those concepts in the notion of a reputation-based mechanism for the negotiation-driven moral regulation of exchange processes of agents that are sensible to moral sanctions.
Keywords: Agent societies, agent society, Avatars, Computational modeling, Ethics, ieee xplore, interactional moral systems, Law, Moral & Ethik, moral agent, moral gain, moral loss, moral regulation of social exchanges, moral sanction, Morality, multi-agent systems, negotiation-driven moral regulation, reputation-based mechanism, reputation-based persistence, reputation-based persistent exchange processes, Robots, social exchanges, social mechanisms, Social Processes -
(2019) : Computational Tools for Human-Robot Interaction Design: 2019 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI): Daegu, Korea: IEEE, S. 733-735
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/HRI.2019.8673221 Abstract: Robots must exercise socially appropriate behavior when interacting with humans. How can we assist interaction designers to embed socially appropriate and avoid socially inappropriate behavior within human-robot interactions? We propose a multi-faceted interaction-design approach that intersects human-robot interaction and formal methods to help us achieve this goal. At the lowest level, designers create interactions from scratch and receive feedback from formal verification, while higher levels involve automated synthesis and repair of designs. In this extended abstract, we discuss past, present, and future work within each level of our design approach.
Keywords: Angemessen(heit) (von Technik), automated synthesis, computational tools, Design methodology, Electric breakdown, Formal Methods, formal verification, human-robot interaction, human-robot interaction design, ieee xplore, Interaction Design, interaction designers, Maintenance engineering, multifaceted interaction-design approach, Programming, Robots, socially appropriate behavior, Task Analysis -
(2019) : Good Robot Design or Machiavellian? An In-the-Wild Robot Leveraging Minimal Knowledge of Passersby’s Culture: 2019 14th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI): Daegu, Korea: IEEE, S. 382-391
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/HRI.2019.8673326 Abstract: Social robots are being designed to use human-like communication techniques, including body language, social signals, and empathy, to work effectively with people. Just as between people, some robots learn about people and adapt to them. In this paper we present one such robot design: we developed Sam, a robot that learns minimal information about a person’s background, and adapts to this background. Our in-the-wild study found that people helped Sam for significantly longer when it adapted to match their background. While initially we saw this as a success, in re-considering our study we started seeing a different angle. Our robot effectively deceived people (changed its story and text), based on some knowledge of their background, to get more work from them. There was little direct benefit to the person from this adaptation, yet the robot stood to gain free labor. We would like to pose the question to the community: is this simply good robot design, or, is our robot being manipulative? Where does the ethical line lay between a robot leveraging social techniques to improve interaction, and the more negative framing of a robot or algorithm taking advantage of people? How can we decide what is good here, and what is less desirable?
Keywords: Body language, Cultural differences, Culture, Ethics, Global communication, human-like communication techniques, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, in the wild, in-the-wild robot, learning (artificial intelligence), minimal information, Mobile robots, Mood, Moral & Ethik, passersby culture, Persuasive Robots, robot design, Robots, Sam, Shape, social robots, Social signals, social techniques, Task Analysis 2018
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(2018): Ethics for Robots as Experimental Technologies: Pairing Anticipation with Exploration to Evaluate the Social Impact of Robotics. In: IEEE Robotics Automation Magazine 25 (1), S. 30-36. DOI: 10.1109/MRA.2017.2781543
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2017.2781543 Abstract: The evaluation of the societal impact of autonomous technologies, particularly robotics, has grown in technological contexts (e.g., see [14] and the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems [20]), as well as broader political contexts (e.g., see the 2017 European Parliament report regarding civil law rules on robotics [21]). In this article, we adopt the perspective that conceptualizes new technologies as social experiments, stressing their experimental character to deal with the inherent uncertainty that affects their behavior. We suggest that the kind of experiments performed when evaluating robots in specific contexts of use are explorative experiments, i.e., investigations carried out in the absence of a proper theory or theoretical background that diverge from the traditional notion of controlled experiments. Considering this epistemological shift, we apply the ethical framework proposed by van de Poel for experimental technologies to the case of robotics, and we discuss its implications on the design of robots. To make our discussion more concrete, we reference the field of robots for search and rescue, which offers a challenging opportunity to test socioethical approaches to the development of robots and their interactions with environments and humans.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, autonomous robots, autonomous technologies, ethical aspects, Ethics, experimental technologies, ieee xplore, Künstliche Intelligenz, Law, Monitoring, Politics, Robotics, Robots, service robot, social aspects of automation, Social implications of technology, technological contexts -
(2018): People are averse to machines making moral decisions. In: Cognition 181, S. 21-34. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.003
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.08.003 Abstract: Do people want autonomous machines making moral decisions? Nine studies suggest that that the answer is ‘no’—in part because machines lack a complete mind. Studies 1–6 find that people are averse to machines making morally-relevant driving, legal, medical, and military decisions, and that this aversion is mediated by the perception that machines can neither fully think nor feel. Studies 5–6 find that this aversion exists even when moral decisions have positive outcomes. Studies 7–9 briefly investigate three potential routes to increasing the acceptability of machine moral decision-making: limiting the machine to an advisory role (Study 7), increasing machines’ perceived experience (Study 8), and increasing machines’ perceived expertise (Study 9). Although some of these routes show promise, the aversion to machine moral decision-making is difficult to eliminate. This aversion may prove challenging for the integration of autonomous technology in moral domains including medicine, the law, the military, and self-driving vehicles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2018) : Artificial Empathy in Social Robots: An analysis of Emotions in Speech: 2018 27th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN): Nanjing, China: IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, S. 632-637
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2018.8525652 Abstract: Artificial speech developed using speech synthesizers has been used as the voice for robots in Human Robot Interaction (HRI). As humans anthropomorphize robots, an empathetically interacting robot is expected to increase the level of acceptance of social robots. Here, a human perception experiment evaluates whether human subjects perceive empathy in robot speech. For this experiment, empathy is expressed only by adding appropriate emotions to the words in speech. Also, humans’ preferences for a robot interacting with empathetic speech versus a standard robotic voice are also assessed. The results show that humans are able to perceive empathy and emotions in robot speech, and prefer it over the standard robotic voice. It is important for the emotions in empathetic speech to be consistent with the language content of what is being said, and with the human users’ emotional state. Analyzing emotions in empathetic speech using valence-arousal model has revealed the importance of secondary emotions in developing empathetically speaking social robots.
Keywords: Angemessen(heit) (von Technik), Anthropomorphism, appropriate emotions, artificial empathy, artificial speech, control engineering computing, emotion recognition, empathetic speech, empathetically interacting robot, human perception experiment, Human robot interaction, human subjects, human users, human-robot interaction, Humans, ieee xplore, Medical services, robot interacting, Robot sensing systems, robot speech, Robots, service robot, social robots, speech synthesis, speech synthesizers, standard robotic voice, standards, Task Analysis -
(2018) : ETHICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MACHINE LEARNING: 2018 ITU Kaleidoscope: Machine Learning for a 5G Future (ITU K): Santa Fe, Argentina: IEEE, S. 1-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23919/ITU-WT.2018.8597767 Abstract: Artificial Intelligence (AI) with its core subset of Machine Learning (ML) is rapidly transforming life experiences as humans begin to grow more dependent on these ‘smart machines’ for their needs - ranging from routine mundane chores to critical personal decisions. However, these transformative technologies are at the same time proving unpredictable too as has been reported worldwide in certain cases. Therefore, several studies/reports, such as COMEST report on Robotics ethics (UNESCO, 2017) point to an obvious need for inculcating more ethical behavior in machines. The present study aims to look at the role and interplay of ML (the hard sciences) and Ethics (the soft sciences) to resolve such predicaments that are inadvertently manifested by machines not constrained or controlled by human expectations. Based on focused review of literature of both domains-ML and Ethics, the proposed paper attempts to first build on the need for introduction of an ethical algorithm in the domain of machine learning and then endeavors to provide a conceptual framework to resolve the ethical dilemmas.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, Artificial intelligence/machine learning, Big Data, COMEST report, critical personal decisions, Decision Making, design approach, domains-ML, emotional quotient, ethical algorithm, ethical aspects, ethical behavior, ethical dilemmas, ethical framework, Ethics, hard sciences, human expectations, ieee xplore, learning (artificial intelligence), machine learning, Machine learning algorithms, Moral & Ethik, Prediction algorithms, robotic ethics, Robots, routine mundane chores, smart machines, soft sciences, spiritual quotient, transformative technologies -
(2018) : Decision-Making Prediction for Human-Robot Engagement between Pedestrian and Robot Receptionist In: Cabibihan, John-Joh: IEEE RO-MAN 2018: The 27th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication: 2018 27th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN): Nanjing: 8/27/2018 - 8/31/2018. Ro-Man; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; IEEE Robotics and Automation Society; IEEE Ro-Man; IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication: Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, S. 208-215
Abstract: Social robots have been providing a number of customer services lately. For example, they can take the place of people as receptionists. When people interact they predict each others decision-making from the others actions and take suitable actions for the sake of the other. However, taking such actions is difficult for modern social robots. Therefore, our initial aim is to solve the problem of how to predict decision-making in human-robot engagement. Choosing a reception system as a case study to approach this goal, we created a new model to predict who will use the system. The model contains a state transition function based on observation studies. We evaluated the model though a controlled experiment and a simulation experiment, using field data on prediction performance and mental effect. The experiment results lead us to believe that the model can predict the decisions of others sufficiently well. We also found that a pedestrian who will not talk with a robot receptionist suffers a negative emotion when the pedestrian is greeted by a robot, but a method we propose prevents this. We suggest that the word suitable is related to negative emotion, a part of usability. By using our model in the future we will attempt to find a method that will enable a robot to learn suitable actions by itself.
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(2018): Technology with embodied physical actions: Understanding interactions and effectiveness gains in teams working with robots. ProQuest Information & Learning.
Abstract: Teams in different areas are increasingly adopting robots to perform various mission operations. The inclusion of robots in teams has drawn consistent attention from scholars in relevant fields such as human-computer interaction (HCI) and human-robot interaction (HRI). Yet, the current literature has not fully addressed issues regarding teamwork by mainly focusing on the collaboration between a single robot and an individual. The limited scope of human-robot collaboration in the existing research hinders uncovering the mechanism of performance gains in teams that involve multiple robots and people. This dissertation research is an effort to address the issue by achieving two goals. First, this dissertation examines the impacts of interaction between human teammates alone and interaction between humans and robots on outcomes in teams working with robots. Second, I provide insight into the development of teams working with robots by examining ways to promote a team member’s intention to work with robots. In this dissertation, I conducted three studies in an endeavor to accomplish the aforementioned goals. The first study, in Chapter 2, turns to theory trust in teams to explain outcome gains in teams working with robots. This study reports result from a lab experiment, in which two people fulfilled a collaborative task using two robots. The results show that trust in robots and trust in teammates can be enhanced by a robot-building activity and team identification, respectively. The enhanced trust revealed unique impacts on different team outcomes: trust in robots increased only team performance while trust in teammates increased only satisfaction. Theoretical and practical contributions of the findings are discussed in the chapter. The second study, in Chapter 3, uncovers how team member’s efficacy beliefs interplay with team diversity to promote performance in teams working with robots. Results from a lab experiment reveal that individual operator’s performance is enhanced by team potency perception only when the team is ethnically diverse. This study contributes to theory by identifying team diversity as a limiting condition of performance gains for robot operators in teams. The third study, in Chapter 4, focuses on factors leading to the development of teams working with robots. I conducted an online experiment to examine how surface-level and deep-level similarity contribute to trust in a robotic partner and the impact of the trust on a team member’s intention to work with the robot in varying degrees of danger. This study generally shows that the possibility of danger regulates not only the positive link between the surface-level similarity and trust in robot and but also the link between intention to work with the robot and intention to replace a human teammate with the robot. Chapter 5, as a concluding chapter of this dissertation, discusses the theoretical and practical implications drawn from the three studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
2017
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(2017): Ethics in Robotics Research: CERNA Mission and Context. In: IEEE Robotics Automation Magazine 24 (3), S. 139-145. DOI: 10.1109/MRA.2016.2611586
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MRA.2016.2611586 Abstract: This article summarizes the recommendations concerning robotics as issued by the Commission for the Ethics of Research in Information Sciences and Technologies (CERNA), the French advisory commission for the ethics of information and communication technology (ICT) research. Robotics has numerous applications in which its role can be overwhelming and may lead to unexpected consequences. In this rapidly evolving technological environment, CERNA does not set novel ethical standards but seeks to make ethical deliberation inseparable from scientific activity. Additionally, it provides tools and guidance for researchers and research institutions.
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(2017) : Cross-cultural differences for adaptive strategies of robots in public spaces: 2017 26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN): Lisbon, Portugal: IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, S. 573-578
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2017.8172360 Abstract: Robots deployed in public spaces must necessarily deal with situations that demand them to engage humans in a socially and culturally appropriate manner. However, social environments are often complex and ambiguous: many queries to the robot are collaborative (e.g. a family), and in case of conflicting queries, social robots need to participate in value decisions and negotiating multi-party interactions. Given the strong influence of the people’s demographic information and social schema among people, such as relationships and hierarchies, the focus of this research is to examine whether and how people exhibit socio-psychological effects with a shared robot deployed at international events or spaces (e.g. airports). With the aim to investigate who robots should adapt to (children or adults) in multi-party situations within human-robot interactions in public spaces and whether this adaptation can be influenced by culture, this paper presents a cross-cultural study conducted online. The results include a number of interesting findings based on people’s relationship with a child and their parental status. In addition, a number of cross-cultural differences were identified in respondents’ attitude towards robot’s multi-party adaptation in various public settings.
Keywords: Airports, Angemessen(heit) (von Technik), control engineering computing, cross-cultural differences, cultural aspects, Cultural differences, Face recognition, Foot, human-robot interaction, human-robot interactions, ieee xplore, multiparty adaptation, PSYCHOLOGY, public spaces, Robots, social robots, socio-psychological effects, speech, Videos -
(2017) : Turn-taking intention recognition using multimodal cues in social human-robot interaction: 2017 17th International Conference on Control, Automation and Systems (ICCAS): Jeju, Korea: IEEE, S. 1300-1302
DOI: https://doi.org/10.23919/ICCAS.2017.8204407 Abstract: Turn-taking is an essential social skill for human communication. The robot needs to recognize the end of turn for timely response to the user with little delay in human-robot interaction. In this paper, we propose a turn-taking intention recognition system that determine the timing of turn-taking using multimodal cues in social Human-Robot Interaction (sHRI). In order to evaluate the turn-taking intention recognition system, we collect multimodal data set and conducted experiments. To that end, we designed a human-robot interaction scenario including turn-taking and conducted an experiment with 30 participants using the humanoid robot NAO. In experiments, we validate recognition models trained multimodal dataset by machine learning methods.
Keywords: Encoding, essential social skill, Floors, human communication, humanoid robot NAO, Humanoid Robots, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, Künstliche Intelligenz, learning (artificial intelligence), Lips, machine learning methods, multimodal cues, multimodal dataset, Robots, sHRI, social human-robot interaction, Social robot, speech, timing, Turn-Taking, turn-taking intention recognition system -
(2017): Venturing into the uncanny valley of mind—The influence of mind attribution on the acceptance of human-like characters in a virtual reality setting. In: Cognition 160, S. 43-50. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.12.010
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.12.010 Abstract: For more than 40years, the uncanny valley model has captivated researchers from various fields of expertise. Still, explanations as to why slightly imperfect human-like characters can evoke feelings of eeriness remain the subject of controversy. Many experiments exploring the phenomenon have emphasized specific visual factors in connection to evolutionary psychological theories or an underlying categorization conflict. More recently, studies have also shifted away focus from the appearance of human-like entities, instead exploring their mental capabilities as basis for observers' discomfort. In order to advance this perspective, we introduced 92 participants to a virtual reality (VR) chat program and presented them with two digital characters engaged in an emotional and empathic dialogue. Using the same pre-recorded 3D scene, we manipulated the perceived control type of the depicted characters (human-controlled avatars vs. computer-controlled agents), as well as their alleged level of autonomy (scripted vs. self-directed actions). Statistical analyses revealed that participants experienced significantly stronger eeriness if they perceived the empathic characters to be autonomous artificial intelligences. As human likeness and attractiveness ratings did not result in significant group differences, we present our results as evidence for an “uncanny valley of mind“ that relies on the attribution of emotions and social cognition to non-human entities. A possible relationship to the philosophy of anthropocentrism and its “threat to human distinctiveness” concept is discussed.
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(2017): When robots appear to have a mind: The human perception of machine agency and responsibility. In: New Ideas in Psychology, S. 93-100. DOI: 10.1016/j.newideapsych.2017.11.001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newideapsych.2017.11.001 Abstract: An important topic in the field of social and developmental psychology is how humans attribute mental traits and states to others. With the growing presence of robots in society, humans are confronted with a new category of social agents. This paper presents an empirical study demonstrating how psychological theory may be used for the human interpretation of robot behavior. Specifically, in this study we applied Weiner's Theory of Social Conduct as a theoretical background for studying attributions of agency and responsibility to NAO robots. Our results suggest that if a robot's failure appears to be caused by its (lack of) effort, as compared to its (lack of) ability, human observers attribute significantly more agency and, although to a lesser extent, more responsibility to the robot. However, affective and behavioral responses to robots differ in such cases as compared to reactions to human agents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)
2016
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(2016): Roboethics: Sharing Our World with Humanlike Robots. In: IEEE Potentials 35 (1), S. 24-28. DOI: 10.1109/MPOT.2014.2364491
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MPOT.2014.2364491 Abstract: Major debates surround the field of robotics, making the potential development of humanlike robots one of the most controversial facets of modern technology. This is the result of the technology’s young age. A new technology must meet a number of requirements before people will reach an agreement on it; legal, social, and global considerations must be explored before robotics applications will be accepted by society.
Keywords: Artificial intelligence, ethical aspects, Ethics, global considerations, humanlike robots, Humanoid Robots, Humanoids, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, legal considerations, Moral & Ethik, roboethics, robotics applications, Robots, social considerations, Social factors, Social implications of technology -
(2016) : Towards ethical robots: Revisiting Braitenberg’s vehicles: 2016 SAI Computing Conference (SAI): London, United Kingdom: IEEE, S. 469-477
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/SAI.2016.7556023 Abstract: The development of software and machines capable of making ethical judgements is a topic of great interest with both the research communities and the public. Debates over the possibility and practicality of such systems have only intensified with the increased use of robotics in the military arena and the ubiquity of AI in commercial products. Modern innovations, such as the driverless car, will likely make artificial ethical agents a legal necessity. As a research field, it has received relatively little attention compared to other, more traditional, AI problems. In this paper, we propose a bottom-up reactive system that provides one possible solution. We will begin by describing the motivation to this work: the development of artificial ethical agents could both mitigate some fears about the future of autonomous AI, and providing insight into human moral reasoning. We then explore the related work, including the current attempts at simulating ethics. We describe our novel approach to ethical simulation, Vessels; a Braitenberg Vehicle inspired reactive agent approach. We, then, demonstrate how Vessels can be configured to simulate both Egoism and Altruism, comparing our simulations to the normative theory.
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(2016): An ethics evaluation tool for automating ethical decision-making in robots and self-driving cars. In: Applied Artificial Intelligence 30 (8), S. 787-809. DOI: 10.1080/08839514.2016.1229919
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08839514.2016.1229919 Abstract: As we march down the road of automation in robotics and artificial intelligence, we will need to automate an increasing amount of ethical decision-making in order for our devices to operate independently from us. But automating ethical decision- making raises novel questions for engineers and designers, who will have to make decisions about how to accomplish that task. For example, some ethical decision-making involves hard moral cases, which in turn requires user input if we are to respect established norms surrounding autonomy and informed consent. The author considers this and other ethical considerations that accompany the automation of ethical decision-making. He proposes some general ethical requirements that should be taken into account in the design room, and sketches a design tool that can be integrated into the design process to help engineers, designers, ethicists, and policymakers decide how best to automate certain forms of ethical decision-making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
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(2016): Making sense of social robots: A structural analysis of the layperson's social representation of robots. In: Revue Européenne de Psychologie Appliquée/European Review of Applied Psychology 66 (6), S. 277-289. DOI: 10.1016/j.erap.2016.07.001
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erap.2016.07.001 Abstract: Introduction Given their novelty, social robots (i.e., robots using natural language, displaying and recognizing emotions) will generate uncertainty among users. Social representations allow making sense of the new, drawing from existing knowledge. Objective A free association questionnaire was administered to 212 Portuguese adults to identify the social representation of robot. Method Data was analysed with EVOC 2000 and SIMI 2000 software. Results The social representation of robot is organized around the ideas of technology, help and future. Differences in the representation according to age, gender and level of education where also identified. Conclusion The social representation of robot is marked by the conception of it as a tool. This contrasts with the concept of social robots as social agents. Implications for social robot's acceptance are discussed. Résumé Introduction Étant donnée leur nouveauté, les robots sociaux (i.e., qui utilisent un langage naturel et montrent et reconnaissent des émotions) vont générer un sentiment d’incertitude chez les futurs utilisateurs. Les représentations sociales permettent de donner du sens aux choses nouvelles à partir des connaissances préexistantes. Objectif Les participants (n=212 adultes portugais) effectuèrent une tâche d’association libre dans le but d’identifier la représentation sociale du robot. Méthode Les données ont été traitées à l’aide des programmes EVOC 2000 et SIMI 2000. Résultats La représentation sociale du robot est organisée autour des idées de technologie, d’aide et d’avenir. Des différences en fonction de l’âge, du genre et du niveau d’éducation sont également identifiées. Conclusion La représentation sociale du robot est marquée par la conception de celui-ci comme un outil. Cela contraste avec le concept de robots sociaux en tant qu’agents sociaux. Les implications pour l’acceptation des robots sociaux sont discutées.
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(2016) : Incorporating perception uncertainty in human-aware navigation: A comparative study: 2016 25th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN): New York City, USA: IEEE, S. 570-577
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2016.7745175 Abstract: In this work, we present a novel approach to human-aware navigation by probabilistically modelling the uncertainty of perception for a social robotic system and investigating its effect on the overall social navigation performance. The model of the social costmap around a person has been extended to consider this new uncertainty factor, which has been widely neglected despite playing an important role in situations with noisy perception. A social path planner based on the fast marching method has been augmented to account for the uncertainty in the positions of people. The effectiveness of the proposed approach has been tested in extensive experiments carried out with real robots and in simulation. Real experiments have been conducted, given noisy perception, in the presence of single/multiple, static/dynamic humans. Results show how this approach has been able to achieve trajectories that are able to keep a more appropriate social distance to the people, compared to those of the basic navigation approach, and the human-aware navigation approach which relies solely on perfect perception, when the complexity of the environment increases. Accounting for uncertainty of perception is shown to result in smoother trajectories with lower jerk that are more natural from the point of view of humans.
Keywords: Angemessen(heit) (von Technik), Computational modeling, Detectors, dynamic humans, fast marching method, human-aware navigation, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, Mobile robots, Navigation, noisy perception, path planning, perception uncertainty, Probabilistic logic, probabilistic modelling, Probability, Proposals, Robots, social costmap, social navigation performance, social path planner, social robotic system, static humans, trajectories, trajectory control, uncertain systems, uncertainty, uncertainty factor 2015
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(2015) : Civilized collaboration: Ethical architectures for enforcing legal requirements and mediating social norms in HRI: 2015 International Conference on Collaboration Technologies and Systems (CTS): Atlanta, Georgia, USA: IEEE
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/CTS.2015.7210394 Abstract: The ways in which we treat each other, typically underpinned by an ethical theory, serve as a foundation for civilized activity. Bounds and requirements are established for normal and acceptable interactions between humans. If we are to create robotic systems to reside among us, they must also adhere to a set of related values that humans operate under. This talk first describes the importance of such conventions in human-robot interaction, then outlines a way forward including the difficult research questions remaining to be confronted in ethical human robot interaction (HRI). In particular, examples involving architectures using ethical governors, moral emotions, responsibility advisors and theories of mind are described in two quite different contexts: warfare [1,2] and the maintenance of human dignity in healthcare [3-5]. Even the role of deception must be considered as an important adjunct to HRI, as it may yield more effective intentional and autonomous social robots if properly deployed [6-7]. Finally, we can consider how robots may eventually be able to engineer more socially just human beings via nudging and the ethical questions associated with using such devices [8].
Keywords: autonomous social robots, civilized activity, civilized collaboration, Computer architecture, Context, ethical architectures, ethical aspects, ethical governors, ethical human robot interaction, Ethical Theory, Ethics, HRI, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, legal requirements, Medical services, Moral & Ethik, Moral emotions, responsibility advisors, robotic systems, Robots, service robot, Social Norms -
(2015) : Influence of approaching patterns of Telepresence Robot for personal space: 2015 Conference on Technologies and Applications of Artificial Intelligence (TAAI): Tainan, Taiwan: IEEE, S. 221-226
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/TAAI.2015.7407117 Abstract: The robot called “Telepresence Robot” is on business in recent years. However, the robot does not consider user’s personal space when the robot approaches the user. To better develop the system of the robot, here we study about how the robot approaches a user. The three factors was considered to influence the scope of the user’s personal space. The first factor is the position where the robot starts to decelerate when the robot approaches a user. The second factor is the method the robot decelerate. The final factor is pre-action by sound when the robot approaches a user. We verified those 3 factors, as a result, it was revealed that pre-action influenced personal space. By the appropriate approaching, the conversation between Telepresence Robot and human becomes natural and interactive.
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(2015) : When will people regard robots as morally competent social partners?: 2015 24th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN): Kobe, Japan: IEEE Robotics & Automation Society, S. 486-491
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2015.7333667 Abstract: We propose that moral competence consists of five distinct but related elements: (1) having a system of norms; (2) mastering a moral vocabulary; (3) exhibiting moral cognition and affect; (4) exhibiting moral decision making and action; and (5) engaging in moral communication. We identify some of the likely triggers that may convince people to (justifiably) ascribe each of these elements of moral competence to robots. We suggest that humans will treat robots as moral agents (who have some rights, obligations, and are targets of blame) if they perceive them to have at least elements (1) and (2) and one or more of elements (3)-(5).
Keywords: Cognition, Context, Decision Making, Ethics, Human Factors, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, Moral & Ethik, Moral action, Moral cognition, moral communication, moral competence, moral decision making, moral vocabulary, morally competent social partners, PSYCHOLOGY, Robots, social aspects of automation, Vocabulary -
(2015) : Perception of Affective Body Movements in HRI across Age Groups: Comparison between Results from Denmark and Japan: 2015 International Conference on Culture and Computing (Culture Computing): Kyoto, Japan: IEEE, S. 25-32
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/Culture.and.Computing.2015.14 Abstract: Social robots are envisioned to move into unrestricted environments where they will be interacting with naive users (in terms of their experience as robot operators). Thus, these robots are also envisioned to exploit interaction channels that are natural to humans like speech, gestures, or body movements. A specificity of these interaction channels is that humans do not only convey task-related information but also more subtle information like e.g. Emotions or personal stance through these channels. Thus, to be successful and not accidentally jeopardizing an interaction, robots need to be able to understand these implicit connotations of the signals (often called social signal processing) in order to generate appropriate signals in a given interaction context. One main application area that is envisioned for social robots is related to elder care, but little is known on how seniors will perceive robots and the signals they produce. In this paper we focus on affective connotations of body movements and investigate how the perception of body movements of robots is related to age. Inspired by a study from Japan, we introduce culture as a variable in the experiment and discuss the difficulties of cross-cultural comparisons. The results show that there are certain age-related differences in the perception of affective body movements, but not as strong as in the original study. A follow up experiment puts the affective body movements into context and shows that recognition rates deteriorate for older participants.
Keywords: affective body movement perception, affective body movements, age groups, age-related differences, Angemessen(heit) (von Technik), assisted living, Context, cross-cultural analysis, Cultural differences, culturally aware technology, Denmark, elder care, emotion information, Face, HRI, Human Factors, Human robot interaction, Humanoid Robots, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, implicit connotation, interaction channels, Japan, Legged locomotion, Observers, personal stance information, robot operators, Robots, service robot, social robots, social signal processing, task-related information, TV, unrestricted environments, Videos 2014
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(2014) : Robot Etiquette: How to Approach a Pair of People?: 2014 9th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI): 2014 9th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI): Bielefeld, Germany: Association for Computing Machinery, S. 196-197
Abstract: Research has been carried out on robots approaching one person [1, 3, 4]. However, further research is needed on robots approaching groups of people. In the study reported in this paper, we studied participants who were paired up for a task and assessed their perception and behaviors as they were approached by a robot from various angles. On an individual level, participants liked the frontal approaches, and they disliked being approached from the back. However, we found that the presence of a task-partner influenced participants’ comfort with a robot approaching (i.e. when the robot approaches and one is standing behind the task-partner). Apart from the positioning of the individuals, the layout of the room, position of furniture and doors, also seemed to influence their experience. This pilot study was performed with a limited number of participants (N=30). However, the study offers preliminary insights into the factors that influence the choice for a robot approach direction when approaching a pair of people that are focused on a task.
Keywords: approach direction, comfort, ethical aspects, frontal approaches, Games, Human Factors, Human robot interaction, human-robot interaction, ieee xplore, individual level, Layout, Legged locomotion, man-machine systems, Moral & Ethik, multiple people, organisational aspects, robot approach direction, robot approaches, robot etiquette, Robots, Task Analysis, task oriented, task-partner influenced participants