The Use of Social Sensorimotor
Contingencies in Humanoid Robots
Vasiliki Vouloutsi
1,2(B) , Anna Chesson
1 , Maria Blancas
1,2 , Oscar Guerrero
1,2 ,
and Paul F. M. J. Verschure
1,2,3
1 The Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems group SPECS, Institute
for Bioengineering of Catalunya (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain
{vvouloutsi,pverschure}@ibecbarcelona.eu
2 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
3 Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA),Barcelona, Spain
https://www.specs-lab.com
Abstract. This pilot study investigates the role of social sensorimotor contingencies as exhibited from a humanoid robot to allow mutual
understanding and social entrainment in a group social activity. The goal
is to evaluate whether sensorimotor contingencies can lead to transparent and understandable interactions while we explore the dimension of
personality. We propose the task of taking a selfie with a robot and a
group of humans as the benchmark to evaluate the social sensorimotor
contingencies displayed. We have constructed two models of interaction
with an introverted and extroverted robot. We also seek to address the
gap in research in context and personality of social sensorimotor contingencies in HRI and contribute to the field of personality in social
robotics by determining what type of behaviour of the robot attracts
certain personalities in humans in group settings. Although the sample
size was small, and there were no significant differences between conditions, results suggest that the expression of sensorimotor contingencies
can lead to successful coupling and interactions.
Keywords: Human-robot interaction · Personality · Social robots ·
Social sensorimotor contingencies
1 Introduction
The application of robotics in social settings continue to present significant challenges despite the technological advances in the field. Social fluency cannot be
achieved through simply following a fixed set of instructions, and goals within
social interactions are not always clearly defined or broken down sequentially.
For social interactions, and for meaningful long-term and repeated contact with
humans, robots need to be equipped with a variety of capabilities including
employing and understanding the same communication channels as those that
humans employ as well as adapting to the dynamics of an ever-changing social
environment [1].
c
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
V. Vouloutsi et al. (Eds.): Living Machines 2020, LNAI 12413, pp. 378–389, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64313-3_36
Contingencies in Humanoid Robots
Vasiliki Vouloutsi
1,2(B) , Anna Chesson
1 , Maria Blancas
1,2 , Oscar Guerrero
1,2 ,
and Paul F. M. J. Verschure
1,2,3
1 The Synthetic Perceptive, Emotive and Cognitive Systems group SPECS, Institute
for Bioengineering of Catalunya (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain
{vvouloutsi,pverschure}@ibecbarcelona.eu
2 Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Barcelona, Spain
3 Catalan Institute of Advanced Studies (ICREA),Barcelona, Spain
https://www.specs-lab.com
Abstract. This pilot study investigates the role of social sensorimotor contingencies as exhibited from a humanoid robot to allow mutual
understanding and social entrainment in a group social activity. The goal
is to evaluate whether sensorimotor contingencies can lead to transparent and understandable interactions while we explore the dimension of
personality. We propose the task of taking a selfie with a robot and a
group of humans as the benchmark to evaluate the social sensorimotor
contingencies displayed. We have constructed two models of interaction
with an introverted and extroverted robot. We also seek to address the
gap in research in context and personality of social sensorimotor contingencies in HRI and contribute to the field of personality in social
robotics by determining what type of behaviour of the robot attracts
certain personalities in humans in group settings. Although the sample
size was small, and there were no significant differences between conditions, results suggest that the expression of sensorimotor contingencies
can lead to successful coupling and interactions.
Keywords: Human-robot interaction · Personality · Social robots ·
Social sensorimotor contingencies
1 Introduction
The application of robotics in social settings continue to present significant challenges despite the technological advances in the field. Social fluency cannot be
achieved through simply following a fixed set of instructions, and goals within
social interactions are not always clearly defined or broken down sequentially.
For social interactions, and for meaningful long-term and repeated contact with
humans, robots need to be equipped with a variety of capabilities including
employing and understanding the same communication channels as those that
humans employ as well as adapting to the dynamics of an ever-changing social
environment [1].
c
Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
V. Vouloutsi et al. (Eds.): Living Machines 2020, LNAI 12413, pp. 378–389, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64313-3_36