Latest Human-robot interaction Stories

Robotics Company Provides Software for Bi-Handed and Hexapod Walking Robots CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Energid Technologies announced it has licensed its Actin(TM) 2.0 robotics toolkit to Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India. Actin controls and simulates complex robots with many moving parts. At Jadavpur University, the Control System Section of the Department of Electrical Engineering is establishing the Mechatronics Laboratory for advanced robotics research and...

Honda's new "robot teacher" can scold, smile and call roll, delighting students with her lifelike appearance.  Unlike some mechanical-looking robots such as Honda Motor Co.'s Asimo, Saya can express six fundamental emotions "” happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger and sadness.   These emotions are made possible since Saya's rubber skin is pulled from the back with motors and wiring around the mouth and eyes.For instance, to appear surprised Saya's mouth will open, with her eyes...

Imagine a day when you turn to your own personal robot, give it a task and then sit down and relax, confident that your robot is doing exactly what you wanted it to do.So far, that autonomous, do-it-all robot is the stuff of science fiction or cartoons like "The Jetsons." But a Brown University-led robotics team has made an important advance: The group has demonstrated how a robot can follow nonverbal commands from a person in a variety of environments "” indoors as well as...

Scientists at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) have devised the first humanoid robot that can perform the precise lip movements and facial expressions of human beings.Named "˜Jules', the robot can automatically copy human movements by capturing them with its video camera "˜eyes' and mapping them onto small electronic motors in its skin.  The process allows Jules' disembodied androgynous robotic head to grin and grimace, furrow its brow and 'speak'.Jules mimics these expressions by...

USC studies document that kids with ASD actively interact with robots; creation of therapy tools is next stepPapers delivered at three conferences in the US and Europe this summer report on new research at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering studying interactions of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) with bubble-blowing robots.The preliminary studies, by Professor Maja Matarić and PhD student David Feil-Seifer of the USC Interaction Laboratory,...

Robots are fluent in their native language of 1 and 0 absolutes but struggle to grasp the nuances and imprecise nature of human language. While scientists are making slow, incremental progress in their quest to create a robot that responds to speech, gestures and body language, a more straightforward method of communication may help robots find their way into homes sooner.A team of researchers led by Charlie Kemp, director of the Center for Healthcare Robotics in the Health Systems Institute...

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science WriterWASHINGTON - George the robot is playing hide-and-seek with scientist Alan Schultz. George whirrs and hides behind a post until he's found. Then a bit later, he hunts for and finds Schultz hiding.If that sounds childish, consider that Schultz is working his way up to teaching the robot to play Capture the Flag.What's so impressive about robots playing children's games?For a robot to actually find a place to hide, and then hunt for its human playmate is a...

NASA -- Will robots that help astronauts in space be as friendly and likeable as the fictional "R2-D2" android portrayed in the original "Stars Wars" motion picture? NASA scientists say robots will behave more like human beings in the future, even if - like R2-D2 - these machines do not look like people. NASA researchers envision futuristic robots that 'act' like people, enabling these mechanical helpers to work more efficiently with astronauts. Human-robot cooperation, in...