Pepper, Jibo and Milo make up the first generation of social robots, leading what promises to be a cohort with diverse capabilities and future applications. But what are social robots and what should they be able to do? This article gives an overview of theories that can help us understand social robotics better.

I most like the definition which describes social robots as robots for which social interaction plays a key role. So social skills should be needed by the robot to enable them to perform a function. A survey of socially interactive robots defines some key characteristics that of this type of robot. A social robot should show emotions, have capabilities to converse on an advanced level, understand the mental models of their social partners, form social relationships, make use of natural communication cues, show personality and learn social capabilities.

Understanding Social Robots offers another interesting perspective of what a social robot is: Social robot = robot + social interface

In this definition, the robot has its own purpose outside of the social aspect. Examples of this can be care robots, cleaning robots in our homes, service desk robots at an airport or mall information desk or chef robots in a cafeteria. The social interface is simply a kind of familiar protocol which makes it easy for us to communicate effectively with the robot. Social cues can give us insight into the intention of a robot, for example shifting gaze towards a mop gives a clue that the robot is about to change activity, although they might not have eyes in the classical sense.

These indicators of social capability can be as useful as actual social ability and drivers in the robot. As studies show, children are able to project social capabilities onto simple inanimate objects like a calculator. A puppet becomes an animated social partner during play. In the same way, robots only have to have the appearance of sociability to be effective communicators. An Ethical Evaluation of Human–Robot Relationships confirms this idea. We have a need to belong, which causes us to form emotional connections to artificial beings and to search for meaning in these relationships.

How should social robots look?

Masahiro Mori defined the Uncanny Valley theory in 1970, in a paper on the subject. He describes the effects of robot appearance and robot movement on our affinity to the robot. In general, we seem to prefer robots to look more like humans and less like robots. There is a certain point at which robots look both human-like and robot-like, and it becomes confusing for us to categorise them. This is the Uncanny Valley – where robot appearance looks very human but also looks a bit ‘wrong’, which makes us uncomfortable. If robot appearance gets past that point, and looks more human, likeability goes up dramatically.

In Navigating a social world with robot partners: A quantitative cartography of the Uncanny Valley (2) we learn that there is a similar effect between robot appearance and trustworthiness of a robot. Robots that showed more positive emotions were also more likeable. So it seems like more human looking robots would lead to more trust and likeability.

Up to this point, we assume that social robots should be humanoid or robotic. But what other forms can robots take? The robot should at least have a face to give it an identity and make it an individual. Further, with a face, you can indicate attention and imitate the social partner to improve communication. Most non-verbal cues are relayed through the face and creates an expectation of how to engage with the robot.

The appearance of a robot can help set people’s expectations of what they should be capable of, and limit those expectations to some focused functions which can be more easily achieved. For example, a bartender robot can be expected to be able to have a good conversation and serve drinks, take payment, but probably it’s ok if it can only speak one language, as it only has to fit the context it’s in.

In Why Every Robot at CES Looks Alike, we learn that Jibo’s oversized, round head is designed to mimic the proportions of a young animal or human to make it more endearing. It has one eye to prevent it from triggering the Uncanny Valley effect by looking too robotic and human at the same time. Also, appearing too human-like creates the impression that the robot will respond like a human, while they are not yet capable.

Another interesting example is of Robin, a Nao robot being used to teach children with diabetes how to manage their illness (6). The explanation given to the children is that Robin is a toddler. The children use this role to explain any imperfections in Robin’s speech capabilities.

Different levels of social interaction for robots

A survey of socially interactive robots contains some useful concepts in defining levels of social behaviour in robots:

• Socially evocative: Do not show any social capabilities but rely on human tendency to project social capabilities.
• Social interface: Mimic social norms, without actually being driven by them.
• Socially receptive: Understand social input enough to learn by imitation but do not see social contact.
• Sociable: Have social drivers and seek social contact.
• Socially situated: Can function in a social environment and can distinguish between social and non-social entities.
• Socially embedded: Are aware of social norms and patterns.
• Socially intelligent: Show human levels of social understanding and awareness based on models of human cognition.

Clearly, social behaviour is nuanced and complex. But to come back to the previous points, social robots can still make themselves effective without reaching the highest levels of social accomplishment.

Effect of social robots on us

To close, de Graaf poses a thought-provoking question (4):

How will we share our world with these new social technologies and how will a future robot society change who we are, how we act and interact—not only with robots but also with each other?

It seems that we will first and foremost shape robots by our own human social patterns and needs. But we cannot help but be changed as individuals and a society when we finally add a more sophisticated layer of robotic social partners in the future.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy:

• A Pepper-warm reception at Decos
• Robots at your service: Empowering healthy aging at European Robotics Week, 2016
• Considering robot care, ethics & future tech at #ERW2016 European Robotics Week
• When robots become art: Interview with Yi-Wei Keng
• Hello Pepper: Getting started to program robots on Android
• Survey: Evaluate ethics of health related privacy with care robots

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Image: DECOS mensen

Like some angular alien architecture, Decos‘ futuristic development lab appears freshly landed in a martian lanscape. Underneath the sharp geometry and vectors, inside, the highly innovative company is inventing the technology of the future. Located in Noordwijk in the Netherlands, they are breaking new ground with Softbank’s Pepper robot, employing the social humanoid as a receptionist!

Received by Pepper

Pepper waits at the entrance, dressed in a cape for Sinterklaas (the Dutch precursor to Christmas). I greet her but she doesn’t respond. Then I notice her tablet prompting me as to the nature of my visit. I indicate that I have an appointment and then speak the name of my contact, Tiago Santos, out loud. She recognises it after two tries, to my relief. A little robot, Eco, rolls up and unlocks the door for me, to lead me to my meeting. The office space is white and fresh, with modern angles everywhere and walls of glass, illuminating the alien environment outside.

Over a cup of tea, Tiago asks me to fill in an evaluation form which they will use to improve Pepper’s receptionist routine. This is done on one of three large tv screens in the downstairs canteen. I offer some comments about the interaction, and the lack of feedback when Pepper didn’t hear what I said.

Tiago proceeds to tell us about how Decos used to have a human receptionist, but did not have enough work to keep her fully occupied in their small Noordwijk office. Pepper has taken her place, enabling her to do other, more interesting things (is this not how one would wish robotisation would work in the future?). Pepper can speak, show videos on her tablet and take rating input. Decos hopes to distribute their robot receptionist module through human receptionist outsourcing companies.

More about Decos

Decos is dedicated to innovation and futuristic technologies, digitising manual processes and making things smarter. They have several products created by different companies under their banner, in the areas of smart cities, smart work and smart mobility. To foster innovation while managing risk, they create small technology startups within their company. Once viability is established and a good business model is found, they invest more heavily. The company itself believes in self management – the only management being the board which steers the company and some project managers. They have the one site in the Netherlands, and one in Pune, employing a total of about 200 people. The office building is filled with awesome futuristic gadgets to increase the creativity of their staff, including an Ultimaker 3D printer and a virtual reality headset. The walls are covered in space themed pictures. There’s a telescope upstairs and an ancient meteorite downstairs. This place was born of imagination and inspiration.

Decos’ robotics startup is composed of 3 developers who program in all kinds of languages including c, c#, python and javascript. They make use of all available API’s, and this necessitates using the various languages which are employed in AI. They work on 2 robots at the moment – Pepper, a social robot made by Softbank (Aldebaran) and Eco, a robot of their own design, manufactured by their partners.

Eco the robot

Eco is a little robot that rolls around rather like a bar stool on a Roomba, and makes use of Decos’ autonomous life module. It wanders around absentmindedly, pauses thoughtfully next to Tiago’s leg, and rolls on.  The body is a high quality 3d plastic print, with a glossy finish, angular and reminiscent of the Decos building. It has an endearingly flat and friendly ‘face’ which is displayed on what appears to be a tablet. Another Eco unit patrols upstairs. A third prototype lies without a chassis in the development area, along with Robotnik, the next and larger version of Eco.

Tiago tells me that this version’s aluminium chassis promises to be far easier to manufacture and thus more scalable. Robotnik and Eco have a Kinect sensor and a lasers for obstacle detection. Tiago mentions that two kinds of sensors are needed to clarify confusing readings caused by reflections. The company believes that all complex artificial intelligence processing can be done as cloud services – in essence the brain of the robot is in the cloud, all based on IOT. They call this artificial intelligence engine C-3PO. They also have several other modules including one for human interaction, a ticketing system, Pepper’s form input module, and their own facial recognition module.

Social robot pioneers

All too soon, my visit to Decos’ futuristic development lab has come to an end. I can’t help rooting for them, and for similar companies, who show courage in embracing innovation and its risks. It seems to come with its own interesting challenges, like inventing a business model, creating a market and choosing partners and early adopters to collaborate with. Working in this space takes imagination and vision, as you have to invent the rules which will lead to the unfolding of the entire industry in coming years. Decos seems to embody the spirit of exploration which is needed to define and shape what is to come.

This article was originally posted on Thosha’s AI Blog, and has been edited for publication on RoboHub.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy:

• Robots at your service: Empowering healthy aging at European Robotics Week, 2016
• Considering robot care, ethics & future tech at #ERW2016 European Robotics Week
• Hello Pepper: Getting started to program robots on Android
• Survey: Evaluate ethics of health related privacy with care robots

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The European Robotics Week in 2016 took place from 18 to 22 November in several countries including The Netherlands, Austria, Lithuania, Norway, Portugal, Serbia and many more. This event has been occurring since 2011 to spread public awareness of robotics applications and brings together industry, researchers and policymakers. The central event this year was held in Amsterdam. I attended one of the 5 days of activities in the Maritime Museum. The theme was ‘Robots at your service – empowering healthy aging’ which encompassed a variety of activities arranged over the 5 day duration, including debates, open sessions where you could network while interacting with different kinds of robots, workshops for children and a 2 day hackathon. I attended the robot expo and two of the debate sessions which I will summarise below.

Robot Exhibition

Credits: Visual Outcasts

Although it’s clearly still early days for general consumer robotics in terms of the price-value ratio, there are ever more options available for enthusiasts and for very specific applications. The exhibition had a good selection, including these lovely bots:

• Inmoov open source 3d printed robot
• KUKA Robotics human safe industrial robot with fancy torque sensors
• Tiago Pal, ROS-based mobile manipulator
• Paro the therapeutic seal robot
• Pleo the dinosaur pet
• Softbank’s Pepper and Nao robots, Pepper being hosted by Decos, which uses Pepper as a receptionist
• Meccano’s Meccanoid G15 robot
• Robokind’s Milo robot, for teaching children with autism

Panel Discussion: Roboethics

This discussion was about ethics in robotics but it touched a really wide variety of aspects around this, including some philosophy. The speakers were of a very high standard and from a wide variety of backgrounds which gave the discussion its great breadth.

Here are some highlights:

Robots in care: good or bad?

• How should robots in care evolve?

• Robots should be applied to care because the need for care increases as populations in developed countries age, while the labour force interested in care shrinks. But are robots really the answer to this sensitive problem?
• The distinction was made that a wide range of activities qualify as ‘care’, ranging from assisting people to care for themselves, to caring for them, to providing psychological and emotional support in times of depression, distress or loneliness. Are robots suitable for all of these kinds of activities or only a spectrum? Before you judge, consider this example given, of a Nao robot used in interacting with children with diabetes, in the PAL project (Personal Assistant for health Lifestyle). The robot interacts with the children to educate them about their illness and help them track it. The children confide in the robot more easily than adults and hospital attendance in children with diabetes goes up. This is an example of using robots to build a relationship and put people at ease – something that the robot does more easily in this case than a human. When is a robot more trustworthy than a human? When is the human touch really needed?
• Should we want robots to be more human when they are used for care? In some cases we do, when there is a need to soothe and connect, to comfort. But in other cases a more impersonal and less present robot might be desirable. For instance, if you needed help going to the toilet or rising from bed for the rest of your life, would you need a lot of human interaction around that, or prefer it to blend seamlessly into your life to enable you to be as independent as possible?

Robo ethics and liability.

• Responsibility vs liability of robots for their misdeeds

• This question always comes up in a discussion about robot ethics – people feel uncomfortable with the idea of a robot’s accountability for crimes. For instance, if an autonomous car runs over a pedestrian, who would be responsible for that, the car, owner or manufacturer?
• A good point was raised by philosophy professor Vincent Muller to take this argument further. If a child throws a stone through a window, she is responsible for the action but the parent is liable for damages. In the same way, a robot can be responsible for doing something wrong, but another entity, like the owner, might be liable for damages caused.
• When discussing that a robot can be held liable for a crime, we imply it can understand that it’s actions were wrong and did it anyway. But robots as yet have no understanding of what they are doing, thus the conclusion was that a robot cannot be meaningfully convicted of a crime.

Panel Discussion: Our Robotic Future

In this next session, a general discussion on the future of robotics ensued, followed by each speaker giving their wish and hope for this future. There was a strong Euro-centric flavour to this discussion, which gave a fascinating insight into the European search for identity in this time of change – in the robotics and AI revolution, who are we and what do we stand for? How will we respond to the threats and oppourtunities? How can we lead and usher in a good outcome? The panel itself fell on the optimistic side of the debate, looking forward to positive outcomes.

Robotics Reasearch.

• The debate started off underlining the need to share information and research so that we can progress quickly with these high potential technologies.
• A distinction was made between American and European methods of research in AI and robotics

• American research is funded by defence budgets and not shared openly
• In the US, research is done by large corporations like Facebook and Google, and is often funded by DARPA.
• In Europe, research is funded by the European Commission, and often is performed through startups which means less brute strength, but more agility to bring research to fruition. However because these startups are so small, they can be reluctant to share their intellectual property which might be their only business case.

Accepting the robot revolution

• There is a lot of hype about robots and AI in the media which stirs people’s imaginations and fears – how can we usher in all the benefits of the robot revolution?

• Part of the fear is that people don’t like to accept that the last distinction we have of being the smartest on Earth could be lost.
• There is a growing economic divide caused by this technological revolution
• We should not create a system that creates advantage for only a select group, but aim for an inclusive society that allows all to benefit from abundance of robotics.
• People can be less afraid of robots if the value they add is made clear, for example a robot surgeon which is more accurate than a human surgeon can be viewed positively instead of as a threat.
• Technological revolutions are fuelled by an available workforce which can pick up the skills needed to usher them in. For example, in the industrial revolution, in which agricultural workers could be retrained to work in factories, and later a large labour force was available to fuel the IT revolution which, again, would have put many out of work by automating manual tasks. There is a concern that with STEM graduates on the decline, we will lack the skilled resources to build momentum for AI and Robotics.
• Investors in robotics and AI are discouraged by the growing stigma around these technologies.
• Communication policies on this topic are designed around getting people to understand the science, but this thinking must shift. The end users who currently fear and lack understanding must become the center of communication in the future – AI and robotics must enable them and they should have the tools to judge and decide on it’s fate.

Conclusion

This is certainly an exciting time to be alive, as there is so much to still determine and discover in the growth of the AI and Robotics industries and disciplines. Such an event also highlights how far we are from this reality – 10 year horizons were discussed for AI and Robotics to become commodities in our homes. It is very encouraging to see the clear thinking and good intentions that go into making these technologies mainstream. In the coming months I’d like to dig into the topics of ethics, regulation, EU funding, and what the future of AI and robotics could bring.

Click here to visit Thosha Moodley’s blog.

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy:

• Considering robot care, ethics & future tech at #ERW2016 European Robotics Week
• Survey: Evaluate ethics of health related privacy with care robots
• Care-O-bot 4 celebrates its premiere as a shopping assistant
• Robot companions are coming into our homes — how human should they be?

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.