The
children hug RUBI, but she doesn’t hug them back—at
least not yet. That’s because she’s still a developing
humanoid robot. RUBI, aka Robot Using Bayesian Inference, is
the evolving creation of the Machine Perception Laboratory at UCSD.
Together with QRIO,
developed by Sony Corp., RUBI is attending the University’s
Early Childhood Education Center as part of a long-term research
study.
Led by Javier Movellan, director of the MPLab, the study is a collaborative
endeavor with Sony Intelligence Dynamics Laboratories, Inc. to investigate
the uses of social robots. Both RUBI and QRIO are immersed for about
an hour a day in the ordinary educational activities of Classroom
1.
Soft, warm and plump, the 3-foot-tall RUBI has an expressive face,
two cameras for eyes and a touch-screen in her midriff. This boxy,
belly-tele-tubby is a prototype teaching aide, who presents the 1-
to 2-year-old children with songs and interactive games so they can
learn colors, shapes and other materials targeted by the California
Department of Education.
The smaller and bipedal QRIO, whose
initials stand for Quest for Curiosity,
engages the children in play and exercise.
“Our team is working on understanding what it takes to have a natural
interaction between robots and humans,” says Movellan, a
developmental psychologist
by training. “We have a long way to go yet, but it is our belief
that to be useful to people robots will have to get better at recognizing
a voice, for example, or smiling back at just the right time.
“Genuine interaction will have to
go far beyond computing capacity,” he says. “It will
have to be about forming
relationships.”
As the researchers suspected at the outset, the young children
of Classroom 1 are proving unfailingly honest critics, planting
kisses
on the bots when they’re moved,
ignoring them when they’re not.
RoboCot: QRIO, RUBI and playpal in the Early Childhood Education
Center at UCSD.
— Inga Kiderra
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