Principles of Human-Robot
Interaction
Guest Lecture
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute
1. Interaction and Design
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Defining Interaction
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Ancestry of Interaction Studies
Barnlund
p. 7: the Assumptive World
p. 8: context as all-important
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Ancestry of Interaction Studies
Barnlund
p. 7: the Assumptive World
p. 8: context as all-important
Terry Winograd’s trajectory an an example
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Ancestry of Interaction Studies
Barnlund
p. 7: the Assumptive World
p. 8: context as all-important
p. 9: superiority of interaction
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Formalizing Interaction
Barnlund
p. 10: Communication as Change
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Pitfalls for Interactive Communication
Barnlund, p.12 ..
verbal – nonverbal discrepancy
attitude of infallibility
manipulative purpose
one-way communication
threatening context
evaluative context
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
The Delight of Radical Surprise
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Influence
Technology
People
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Influence
People
Technology
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Breakthroughs
“Teamwork is hard especially with varying levels of skill and
different personalities…can be rewarding only through
compromise.”
“Make active decisions. Have the attitude that if I don’t do it,
no one will and remember that if you choose something,
you are also choosing not to do other things because you
have limited time, energy, etc. Choose what to do with your
talents wisely and don’t waste them!”
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
The Robot Design
Challenge
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Dourish
• Robot interface
– later in this slide set
• Embodiment/situatedness
– Hide-and-seek
– Embodiment deleterious example?
• Brooks and embodiment-architecture
– “Use the world as its own best model”
– Philosophy ; Descartes vs. Heidegger?
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Evolving Toward Physical
Interaction
• Text-based computer interaction
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narrow; single-threaded & synchronous; symbolic
• Graphical computer interaction
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parallel/peripheral; somewhat asynchronous; visual metaphor
• Animate but sessile robot
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multimodal; more asynchronous/episodic;
palpable/continuous
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Animate but sessile...
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Social Mobile Robot
• Invasive: shared physical space
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extended interaction context: the human socialphysical frame
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social communication as a co-habitant
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incidental & opportunistic interaction
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• Asynchronous; episodic
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demands intentional transparency
active communication acts
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Social mobile robot...
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Points of Departure
• Mobile robots are unlike standard computers
• More like independent agents; less human augmentation
• Computers can represent real things; robots are real things
• Robots push back on the world
• Mobile robots differ from standard physical
artifacts
• “…uncertainty, randomness, free will or independence so strikingly
absent in well-designed machines” – Grey Walter
• Invasive in human social space
• Need to reflect or externalize their internal states and intentions
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
High-level Goal
•
Effective and pleasurable social
interaction using embodied agents that
share our space
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Challenges in Social Robotics
• Perception & Representation
• Perceptual competency for spatial and social context
• Locomotion & Manipulation
• Physical competency, expressiveness, terrainability
• Behavior & Communication
• Social competency, deliberation and interaction in
social spaces using time, intention, perceptual action
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Motivation
• Rich, effective, satisfying interactions
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
The ‘Wicked Problem’* in
HRC
 Problem Identification
 Every solution exposes new aspects of the problem.
 Satisficing
 There is no clear stopping criterion nor right or wrong.
 Uniqueness
 Each problem is embedded in a distinct physical and
social context making its solution totally novel.

*Horst Rittel
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Tools for HRC
1. The Science & Technology of
Interaction

modeling, reasoning, execution

perception, actuation
2. Physical and Interaction Design

morphology, behavior
3. Evaluation: HCI, Human Factors,
Education

formative & summative techniques
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
<read pp. 10 -18>
Four dimensions:
Materiality
Expression
Function
Form
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Materiality
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Expression – Tatsuya Matsui
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Expression
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Expression
"Today, we are using technology to further an agenda of destruction and
violence, which is why—more than ever—we need to rethink its role in our
society and make sure that it is only used to better humanity. By creating Posy, I
hope to unleash a weapon of peace—a reminder that one small robot's step is a
giant leap toward a peaceful and equitable future for all."
—Tatsuya Matsui
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Function
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Form as organization of all other dimensions
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
DiSalvo: formalizing Product
Form as organization of all other dimensions
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Pearl: example & discussion
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Projects
• Insect Telepresence: HCI formal techniques
• Chips in museums: informal learning assessment
• Grace: human tests and drama; perception
• USAR: urban search and rescue
• Mobot: long-term historical experiment
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Insect Telepresence
Educational telepresence designed using
formal HCI inquiry tools.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Insect Telepresence Robot
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Problem
Increase visitors’ engagement with and
appreciation of insects in a museum terrarium at
CMNH.
Approach
Provide a scalar telepresence experience with
insect-safe visual browsing
Apply HCI techniques to design and evaluate the
input device and system
• Cultural modeling, expert interview, baseline observation
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Measure engagement indirectly by ‘time on task’
Partner with HCII, CMNH
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Insect Telepresence Robot
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Innovations
Asymmetric exhibit layout
Mechanical transparency
Clutched gantry lever arm
FOV-relative 3 DOF joystick
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Insect Telepresence Robot
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Insect Telepresence Robot
• Evaluation Results:
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Average group size: 3
Average age of users: 19.5 years
Three age modes: 8 years, 10 years, and 35 years
Average time on task of all users: 60 seconds
Average time on task of a single user: 27 seconds
Average time on task for user groups: 93 seconds
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Insect Telepresence
Time on Task: from 15 seconds to 5 minutes
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Robots in Museums
Educational tours in public spaces.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Robots in Museums
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Visitor observation
Robot observation
Demographic analysis
Knowledge tests
.5
.5
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.9
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All dinosaurs lived during same period.
All dinosaurs were huge animals.
Other animals lived on the Earth with din.
All dinosaurs were carnivorous.
Scientists agree how to assemble bones.
All bones in Dinosaur hall are real.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Evolving museum robots
• Human attention and expectation
• Body pose and verbal attitude
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
HRC Insights
• Reliable public deployments are
possible
• Iterative design cycle is essential
• Diagnostic, interaction transparency
• Two-way interaction is preferable
• Human learning in human-robot
collaborations can be quantified.
• Rich robotic interaction can trigger
human behavioral change.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
A Human-Scale Museum
Edubot
• Problem
• Increase visitors’ engagement and
• learning at secondary exhibits in
• Dinosaur Hall.
• Approach
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Lead visitors to secondary exhibits and new facts
Design a robot to share the human social space
Establish long-term iterative testing over years, not days
Time on task, observation and learning evaluations
Partner with Magic Lantern, Maya, CMNH
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Museum Edubot: Technical
Contributions
• Required Robot Competencies:
• Safety, navigation, longevity
• Approaches
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Property-based control programming
Visual landmark-based SUF (Latombe)
Visual self-docking
h/w and s/w restart diagnostics
Fault detection & communication
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Museum Edubot: Technical
Contributions
• Required Robot Competencies:
• Safety, navigation, longevity
• Outcome
• Zero human injuries
• 4 years deployment, over 500 km
traversed
• MTBF converging beyond 1 week
• Uptime: 98%
• Active diagnosis approaching 100%
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Museum Edubot: Iterative
Design Cycle
• Design Refinements
• Physical Design
– Morphological Transparency: designing
informative form
• Interaction Design
– Behavioral Transparency: affective
interaction model
– Shortened length of media segments
– Two-way interaction, goal-based learning
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Human-scale Interaction
Grange, Meyer, Soto, Kunz, Willeke
Educational tours in public spaces.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Human-scale Interaction
Grange, Meyer, Soto, Kunz, Willeke
Educational tours in public spaces.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Human-scale Interaction
Grange, Meyer, Soto, Kunz, Willeke
Educational tours in public spaces.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Interaction Design Process
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Educational design: education division
Content development: production company
Behavior specification: education division
Formative evaluations and re-design
robot observation, human observation
interviews, written tests
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Robot Components
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Nomadic XR-4000 base
Pentium-scale running Linux
Vision, ultrasonic, ir, tactile
8 lead-acid deep-cycle
batteries
– 12V, ~25AH each
– ~ 5 hrs endurance
• Customized interaction “top”
– LCD + DVD media system
– Interaction button(s)
– High-quality speaker system
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Chips
• Carnegie Museum of Natural History
• Autonomy
– 5 years, > 500 km navigated, auto-docking
– MTBF convergence at 1 week
– Proactive health state identification
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Chips - BBC
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Sweetlips
• Hall of North American
Wildlife
• 3 years, > 185 km
navigated
• Tour theme interaction
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Joe Historybot
• Heinz History Center
• 2 years, > 160 km
• Touchscreen, quiz,
speech generation
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course
Adam 40-80
• Free-agent robot for hire
• More than 30 days of work
finished
– Republican National Conv.
– Democratic National Conv.
Illah Nourbakhsh | CMU Robotics Institute | HRI Summer Course