LIving with Robots and InteractivE Companions

LIREC aims to establish a multi-faceted theory of artificial long-term companions (including memory, emotions, cognition, communication, learning, etc.), embody this theory in robust and innovative technology and experimentally verify both the theory and technology in real social environments. Whether as robots, social toys or graphical and mobile synthetic characters, interactive and sociable technology is advancing rapidly. However, the social, psychological and cognitive foundations and consequences of such technological artefacts entering our daily lives - at work, or in the home - are less well understood.

http://www.lirec.org See also Project Lirec

• Models of Social Intelligence
• Theory of Mind in Robotics
• Psychological Models of Empathy

• Lirec Ethical Issues

See Lirec Architecture for an overview of the planned technical structure of the project. Yet Another Robot Platform is part of/inspiration for some of the lirec architecture.

The platforms currently under consideration for long term companions are:

• Mobile robots
• Fixed robots
• Handheld devices
• Fixed graphical systems

An interesting feature of the research is migration between these platforms. Agents which need to build up a long term relationship with their users will have to switch forms depending on the needs of the user at different times. The migration of an agent between devices, and how people relate to it, is a core element of the research.

In order to test and showcase the technology developed for Lirec, several scenarios have been designed to promote companionship. These scenarios are shared between three of the research partners.

Spirit of the building:

1. Team buddy, a mobile robot/collective memory for a team working in a lab
2. Personal guide - for navigating around a university campus, remembering appointments, telling you where to go
3. In the wild - a gossip/chat robot - appears on a large screen in a social area

1. Game companion for young children
2. Personal trainer - which can migrate to mobile robot for jogging exercises
3. Welcome to the jungle - talk to game characters through a robot which can alternate between real and game world

1. Fetch and carry, to help with physical impairment or provide convenience
2. Cognitive prosthetic - memory aid for tasks
3. Telepresence card player - a robot mediates play between two people
4. Teaching proxemic preferences - a robot learns where to be relative to the user in different situations
5. Travelling companion - agent migration, to stay with user during home, work, shopping

All scenarios developed are to be experimentally tested and showcased to the public.

TODO

• FAtiMA
• Greta
• development questionnaire results
• partner competency sharing
• competency software

• Feb20WP9Meeting

Lirec Work Packages

Lirec Articles

YARP is a good example of sharing code in this way on a Linux platform.