bot-i/f: Robots with People
Robots for disadvantaged people}

Paper:   [Kdautenhan & Werry's paper]
         [My notes here]


Issues of Robot-Human Interaction Dynamics
in the Rehabilitation of Chidren with Autism

D&W are working with a system called AURORA (Autonomomous robotic
platform as a remedial tool for children with autism)
   [www.aurora-project.com]

The motivation (my words here) is that since the "time-sense" and
"self-sense" of autistic children is a bit over-loaded when dealing
with "normal" humans, robotic behaviour can be toned down considerably.
For example, even the most carefully trained therapist can suddenly
have their pager go off, and for no reason (from the point of view
of the child) get up and walk off.

Towards this end, the following notes refer to the article (no page numbers :(
Section/Numbers refer to their paper. (my comment are un-indented, and begin
with -- on the first line of each paragraph)

1. Introduction: Building I/A Robotic Systems.

   [In terms of passing for believable], does not matter
   as the degree to which the agent [robot]:

     a) expresses personality, character, and emotions.
     b) to what extent the agent is part of a plausible
        and consistent story which humans (in the role
        of viewers/readers/users/etc), can relate to.

   Following the concept of believability it is the behaviour 
   and expression of a robot which makes it 'humanoid' (in the
   sense of 'being like us'), not the fact alone how many 
   degrees of freedom it posses or how closely its morphology
   matches that of a human being.

-- For example, condider a "boom box" robot, that we could carry
arround with us. It could even be a coke can - a particular fav
maquette of mine.

   An example of a clearly non-humanoid and, judging from the 
   responses of people interacting with it, very believable 
   I/A robot is Simon Penny's PETIT MAL [Penny, 1997]
                                        [Penny, 1999]
   Here a doulbe penduluum structure gives the robot an "interesting
   and at the same time, un-predictable movement repertoire 
   with very smooth behaviour transitions.