Remote Interaction with a NAO Robot using a Tablet Device

The NAO humanoid robot includes several programming tools and development kits that are supported on commonly available operating systems for defining the behavior of the robot at runtime. However, there are situations where it is desirable to control the NAO, or to run specific programs, from tablets or other devices that are not supported by the vendor-provided tools. To support a research project for improving the usability of the NAO by therapists treating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children, we developed a method of using the WebSocket protocol to send commands from an app running on a tablet device to a NAO robot. A proof-of-concept architecture and implementation using an Android tablet app is presented. Finally, the alternative technologies and potential next steps for future enhancement are discussed.