Conference Paper

Hoffman, G., & Breazeal, C. (2008)

Anticipatory Perceptual Simulation for Human-Robot Joint Practice: Theory and Application Study

Proceedings of the 23rd AAAI Conference for Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

We have developed a cognitive architecture for a robotic teammate based on the neuro-psychological principles of anticipation and perceptual simulation, with the aim of attaining increased fluency and efficiency in human-robot teams. An instantiation of this architecture was implemented on a non-anthropomorphic robotic lamp, performing in a human-robot collaborative task.

In a human-subject study in which the robot works on a joint task with untrained subjects, we find our approach to be significantly more efficient and fluent than in a comparable system without anticipatory perceptual simulation. We also show the robot and the human to be increasingly contributing at a similar rate, and we find significant differences in a number of self-report measures and verbal attitudes towards the robot. Notably, we identify increased self-deprecation in human subject responses vis-à-vis the anticipatory robot.