Dancing humanoid robots could be good for human-machine interaction
If you go about your day cheerfully, you can infect others. Researchers are using this to make humanoid robots appear friendlier and allay concerns.
The humanoid robot's lively movements are intended to make it more appealing to people.
(Image: JacobsSchoolNews (Screenshot))
A team of scientists at the University of California (UC) San Diego has taught a humanoid robot some expressive movements and how to dance. The researchers believe that this could improve human-machine interaction. A robot that can move around more lively and perform gestures such as waving, high-fiving and hugging should strengthen the human perception of robots as friendly and cooperative.
"Through expressive and more human-like body motions, we aim to build trust and showcase the potential for robots to co-exist in harmony with humans", said Xiaolong Wang, a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. "We are working to help reshape public perceptions of robots as friendly and collaborative rather than terrifying like The Terminator."
The researchers trained the humanoid robot, a Unitree H1, to perform various human body movements, as can be seen in the study "Expressive Whole-Body Control for Humanoid Robots" (PDF), which the scientists have posted on GitHub. This makes it particularly expressive, they say.
The scientists trained the humanoid robot using motion capture data from humans and dance videos. The upper and lower body were trained separately. This enables the upper body to imitate various reference movements, such as dancing and swinging with the arms, as well as special gestures. At the same time, the lower body can maintain a steady stepping motion to maintain balance and move on any terrain.
Relieving anxiety through lively locomotion
The researchers want the humanoid robot to be able to move from place to place and make lively movements with its upper body to be well received by people and appear more likeable.
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The researchers have not yet evaluated whether this really creates trust in humans. They are still working on allowing the humanoid robot to perform its movements and locomotion autonomously. This is because the robot is still controlled by an operator who remotely determines its direction, speed and specific movements. The scientists are planning to allow the robot to react to its environment and control its own movements accordingly. They also want to adapt the H1 robot so that it can perform a wider range of movements and gestures.
(olb)