Open AccessBelievable Robot Characters
Author(s) -
Simmons Reid,
Makatchev Maxim,
Kirby Rachel,
Lee Min Kyung,
Fanaswala Imran,
Browning Brett,
Forlizzi Jodi,
Sakr Majd
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
ai magazine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 79
eISSN - 2371-9621
pISSN - 0738-4602
DOI - 10.1609/aimag.v32i4.2383
Subject(s) - robot , animation , human–computer interaction , computer science , context (archaeology) , natural (archaeology) , nonverbal communication , task (project management) , social robot , human–robot interaction , artificial intelligence , psychology , communication , mobile robot , engineering , robot control , computer graphics (images) , history , paleontology , archaeology , systems engineering , biology
Believability of characters has been an objective in literature, theater, film, and animation. We argue that believable robot characters are important in human‐robot interaction, as well. In particular, we contend that believable characters evoke users' social responses that, for some tasks, lead to more natural interactions and are associated with improved task performance. In a dialogue‐capable robot, a key to such believability is the integration of a consistent story line, verbal and nonverbal behaviors, and sociocultural context. We describe our work in this area and present empirical results from three robot receptionist test beds that operate “in the wild.”