| 1. |
- Axell, Cecilia, 1965-, et al.
(author)
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Artificial Intelligence in Contemporary Children’s Culture : A Case Study
- 2022
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In: PATT 39. - : Memorial University of Newfoundland. - 9780889015050 ; , s. 376-386
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The overall aim of the school subject technology is to develop pupils’ understanding of technological solutions in everyday life. A starting point for this study is that it is important for teachers in technology to have knowledge of pupils’ prior conceptions of the subject content since these can both support and hinder their learning. In a previous study we found that when pupils (age 7) talk about digital technology and programming, they often refer to out-of-school experiences such as films, television programmes and books. Typically, their descriptions include robots with some form of intelligence. Hence, it seems like children’s culture may have an impact on the conceptions they bring to the technology classroom. In light of this, it is vital that technology teachers have knowledge about how robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are portrayed in children’s culture, and how pupils perceive these portrayals. However, knowledge about these aspects of technology in children’s culture is limited.The purpose of this study is to investigate how artifacts with artificial intelligence are portrayed in television programmes and literature aimed at children. This study is the first step in a larger study aiming to examine younger pupils’ conceptions and ideas about artificial intelligence. A novice conception of artificial intelligence can be described as an understanding of what a programmed device may, or may not, “understand” in relation to a human, which includes discerning th edifferences between the artificial and the human mind. Consequently, as a theoretical framework for investigating how artificial intelligence is portrayed in children’s culture, the concepts of Theoryof Mind (ToM) and Theory of Artificial Mind (ToAM), are used. The empirical material presented in this paper, i.e. four children’s books and a popular children’s television programme, was analysed using a qualitative thematic analysis. The results show that the portrayal of AI is ambiguous. The structure and function of the robot has elements of both human and machine, and the view of the human fictional characters of the robot is sometimes that of a machine, sometimes of a human. In addition, the whole empirical material includes portrayals of AI as a threat as well as a saviour. As regards implications, there is a risk that without real-life experiences of robots, the representations children’s books and other media convey can lead to ambivalent feelings towards real robots.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Alenljung, Beatrice, et al.
(author)
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User Experience in Social Human-Robot Interaction
- 2017
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In: International Journal of Ambient Computing and Intelligence (IJACI). - : I G I Global. - 1941-6237 .- 1941-6245. ; 8:2, s. 12-31
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Socially interactive robots are expected to have an increasing importance in human society. For social robots to provide long-term added value to people’s lives, it is of major importance to stressthe need for positive user experience (UX) of such robots. The human-centered view emphasizes various aspects that emerge in the interaction between humans and robots. However, a positive UX does not appear by itself but has to be designed for and evaluated systematically. In this paper, the focus is on the role and relevance of UX in human-robot interaction (HRI) and four trends concerning the role and relevance of UX related to socially interactive robots are identified, and three challenges related to its evaluation are also presented. It is argued that current research efforts and directions are not sufficient in HRI research, and that future research needs to further address interdisciplinary research in order to achieve long-term success of socially interactive robots.
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| 4. |
- Billing, Erik, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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Finding Your Way from the Bed to the Kitchen: Reenacting and Recombining Sensorimotor Episodes Learned from Human Demonstration
- 2016
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In: Frontiers in Robotics and Ai. - Lausanne, Switzerland : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-9144. ; 3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several simulation theories have been proposed as an explanation for how humans and other agents internalize an "inner world" that allows them to simulate interactions with the external real world - prospectively and retrospectively. Such internal simulation of interaction with the environment has been argued to be a key mechanism behind mentalizing and planning. In the present work, we study internal simulations in a robot acting in a simulated human environment. A model of sensory-motor interactions with the environment is generated from human demonstrations and tested on a Robosoft Kompai robot. The model is used as a controller for the robot, reproducing the demonstrated behavior. Information from several different demonstrations is mixed, allowing the robot to produce novel paths through the environment, toward a goal specified by top-down contextual information. The robot model is also used in a covert mode, where the execution of actions is inhibited and perceptions are generated by a forward model. As a result, the robot generates an internal simulation of the sensory-motor interactions with the environment. Similar to the overt mode, the model is able to reproduce the demonstrated behavior as internal simulations. When experiences from several demonstrations are combined with a top-down goal signal, the system produces internal simulations of novel paths through the environment. These results can be understood as the robot imagining an "inner world" generated from previous experience, allowing it to try out different possible futures without executing actions overtly. We found that the success rate in terms of reaching the specified goal was higher during internal simulation, compared to overt action. These results are linked to a reduction in prediction errors generated during covert action. Despite the fact that the model is quite successful in terms of generating covert behavior toward specified goals, internal simulations display different temporal distributions compared to their overt counterparts. Links to human cognition and specifically mental imagery are discussed.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Billing, Erik, PhD, 1981-, et al.
(author)
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The DREAM Dataset : Supporting a data-driven study of autism spectrum disorder and robot enhanced therapy
- 2020
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In: PLOS ONE. - : Public Library of Science. - 1932-6203. ; 15:8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We present a dataset of behavioral data recorded from 61 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The data was collected during a large-scale evaluation of Robot Enhanced Therapy (RET). The dataset covers over 3000 therapy sessions and more than 300 hours of therapy. Half of the children interacted with the social robot NAO supervised by a therapist. The other half, constituting a control group, interacted directly with a therapist. Both groups followed the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) protocol. Each session was recorded with three RGB cameras and two RGBD (Kinect) cameras, providing detailed information of children’s behavior during therapy. This public release of the dataset comprises body motion, head position and orientation, and eye gaze variables, all specified as 3D data in a joint frame of reference. In addition, metadata including participant age, gender, and autism diagnosis (ADOS) variables are included. We release this data with the hope of supporting further data-driven studies towards improved therapy methods as well as a better understanding of ASD in general.
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| 7. |
- Bjurling, Oscar, et al.
(author)
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Drone Swarms in Forest Firefighting : A Local Development Case Study of Multi-Level Human-Swarm Interaction
- 2020
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In: ACM International Conference Proceeding Series. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery. - 9781450375795
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Swarms of autonomous and coordinating Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are rapidly being developed to enable simultaneous control of multiple UAVs. In the field of Human-Swarm Interaction (HSI), researchers develop and study swarm algorithms and various means of control and evaluate their cognitive and task performance. There is, however, a lack of research describing how UAV swarms will fit into future real-world domain contexts. To remedy this, this paper describes a case study conducted within the community of firefighters, more precisely two Swedish fire departments that regularly deploy UAVs in fire responses. Based on an initial description of how their UAVs are used in a forest firefighting context, participating UAV operators and unit commanders envisioned a scenario that showed how the swarm and its capabilities could be utilized given the constraints and requirements of a forest firefighting mission. Based on this swarm scenario description we developed a swarm interaction model that describes how the operators' interaction traverses multiple levels ranging from the entire swarm, via subswarms and individual UAVs, to specific sensors and equipment carried by the UAVs. The results suggest that human-in-the-loop simulation studies need to enable interaction across multiple swarm levels as this interaction may exert additional cognitive strain on the human operator.
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| 8. |
- Bjurling, Oscar, et al.
(author)
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Swarms, teams, or choirs? : Metaphors in multi-UAV systems design
- 2021
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In: Advances in Human Factors in Robots, Unmanned Systems and Cybersecurity. - Cham : Springer International Publishing. - 9783030799960 - 9783030799977 ; , s. 10-15
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Future Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are projected to fly and operate in swarms. The swarm metaphor makes explicit and implicit mappings regarding system architecture and human interaction to aspects of natural systems, such as bee societies. Compared to the metaphor of a team, swarming agents as individuals are less capable, more expendable, and more limited in terms of communication and coordination. Given their different features and limitations, the two metaphors could be useful in different scenarios. We also discuss a choir metaphor and illustrate how it can give rise to different design concepts. We conclude that designers and engineers should be mindful of the metaphors they use because they influence—and limit—how to think about and design for multi-UAV systems.
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| 9. |
- Cai, Haibin, et al.
(author)
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Sensing-enhanced Therapy System for Assessing Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders : A Feasibility Study
- 2019
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In: IEEE Sensors Journal. - : Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). - 1530-437X .- 1558-1748. ; 19:4, s. 1508-1518
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is evident that recently reported robot-assisted therapy systems for assessment of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) lack autonomous interaction abilities and require significant human resources. This paper proposes a sensing system that automatically extracts and fuses sensory features such as body motion features, facial expressions, and gaze features, further assessing the children behaviours by mapping them to therapist-specified behavioural classes. Experimental results show that the developed system has a capability of interpreting characteristic data of children with ASD, thus has the potential to increase the autonomy of robots under the supervision of a therapist and enhance the quality of the digital description of children with ASD. The research outcomes pave the way to a feasible machine-assisted system for their behaviour assessment. IEEE
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| 10. |
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| 11. |
- Chilufya, Emma Mainza, 1986-, et al.
(author)
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A Comparative Study of Physical and Virtual Reality Prototyping of a Migrating Agent Interface
- 2023
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In: Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9798400708244 ; , s. 369-371
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Prototyping methods are commonly employed iteratively throughout the design and product development, typically ranging from early low-fidelity to later high-fidelity prototypes. We present a case study focusing on prototyping a receptionist agent migrating between three platforms (a monitor on the wall, a mobile phone, and a physical robot). More specifically, we compare virtual reality (VR) and physical (real world) prototyping methods. The two methods are compared in terms of fidelity and usability. The breadth of features, the degree of functionality, and the interactivity were similar. However, the aesthetic refinement differed. The VR prototyping method also had much higher prerequisites in terms of equipment and skills, and the learning curve for the designer was steep. Both methods were equally efficient in user testing, but the VR method revealed more usability issues in the efficiency category, while the physical space method revealed more issues in the effectiveness category.
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| 12. |
- Esteban, Pablo G., et al.
(author)
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How to Build a Supervised Autonomous System for Robot-Enhanced Therapy for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder
- 2017
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In: Paladyn - Journal of Behavioral Robotics. - : De Gruyter Open. - 2080-9778 .- 2081-4836. ; 8:1, s. 18-38
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Robot-Assisted Therapy (RAT) has successfully been used to improve social skills in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) through remote control of the robot in so-called Wizard of Oz (WoZ) paradigms.However, there is a need to increase the autonomy of the robot both to lighten the burden on human therapists (who have to remain in control and, importantly, supervise the robot) and to provide a consistent therapeutic experience. This paper seeks to provide insight into increasing the autonomy level of social robots in therapy to move beyond WoZ. With the final aim of improved human-human social interaction for the children, this multidisciplinary research seeks to facilitate the use of social robots as tools in clinical situations by addressing the challenge of increasing robot autonomy.We introduce the clinical framework in which the developments are tested, alongside initial data obtained from patients in a first phase of the project using a WoZ set-up mimicking the targeted supervised-autonomy behaviour. We further describe the implemented system architecture capable of providing the robot with supervised autonomy.
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| 13. |
- Johansson, Ronnie, et al.
(author)
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On the Definition and Scope of Information Fusion as a Field of Research
- 2022
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In: ISIF Perspectives on Information Fusion. - : International Society of Information Fusion (ISIF). - 2831-4824 .- 2831-4832. ; 5:1, s. 3-12
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A definition of information fusion (IF) as a field of research can benefit researchers within the field, who may use such a definition when motivating their own work and evaluating the contributions of others. Moreover, it can enable researchers and practitioners outside the field to more easily relate their own work to the field and more easily understand the scope of IF techniques and methods. Based on strengths and weaknesses of existing definitions, a definition is proposed that is argued to effectively fulfill the requirements that can be put on a definition of IF as a field of research. Although the proposed definition aims to be precise, it does not fully capture the richness and versatility of the IF field. To address that limitation, we highlight some topics to explore the scope of IF, covering the systems perspective of IF and its relation to ma-chine learning, optimization, robot behavior, opinion aggregation, and databases.
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| 14. |
- Lindblom, Jessica, 1969-
(author)
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Minding the Body : Interacting socially through embodied action
- 2007
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This dissertation clarifies the role and relevance of the body in social interaction and cognition from an embodied cognitive science perspective. Theories of embodied cognition have during the past two decades offered a radical shift in explanations of the human mind, from traditional computationalism which considers cognition in terms of internal symbolic representations and computational processes, to emphasizing the way cognition is shaped by the body and its sensorimotor interaction with the surrounding social and material world. This thesis develops a framework for the embodied nature of social interaction and cognition, which is based on an interdisciplinary approach that ranges historically in time and across different disciplines. The theoretical framework presents a thorough and integrated understanding that supports and explains the embodied nature of social interaction and cognition. It is argued that embodiment is the part and parcel of social interaction and cognition in the most general and specific ways, in which dynamically embodied actions themselves have meaning and agency. The framework is illustrated by empirical work that provides some detailed observational fieldwork on embodied actions captured in three different episodes of spontaneous social interaction in situ. Besides illustrating the theoretical issues discussed in the thesis, the empirical work also reveals some novel characteristics of embodied action in social interaction and cognition. Furthermore, the ontogeny of social interaction and cognition is considered, in which social scaffolding and embodied experience play crucial roles during child development. In addition, the issue what it would take for an artificial system to be (socially) embodied is discussed from the perspectives of cognitive modeling and technology. Finally, the theoretical contributions and implications of the study of embodied actions in social interaction and cognition for cognitive science and related disciplines are summed up. The practical relevance for applications to artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction is also outlined as well as some aspects for future work.
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| 15. |
- Niklasson, Lars, et al.
(author)
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Lärande Datorer : Utopi eller Verklighet?
- 1996
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Reports (pop. science, debate, etc.)abstract
- Denna populärvetenskapliga rapport ger en kort introduktion till självlärande artificiella neurala nätverk, samt sätter dem i relation till den science fiction-version som ges på TV och film.
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| 16. |
- Petrovych, Veronika, 1990-, et al.
(author)
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Human Interpretation of Goal-Directed Autonomous Car Behavior
- 2018
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In: COGSCI2018 Changing / minds, 40th annual cognitive science society meeting, Madison, Wisconsin, USA, July 25-28. - Victoria, British Columbia : Cognitive Science Society. - 9780991196784 ; , s. 2235-2240
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- People increasingly interact with different types of autonomous robotic systems, ranging from humanoid social robots to driverless vehicles. But little is known about how people interpret the behavior of such systems, and in particular if and how they attribute cognitive capacities and mental states to them. In a study concerning people’s interpretations of autonomous car behavior, building on our previous research on human-robot interaction, participants were presented with (1) images of cars – either with or without a driver – exhibiting various goal-directed traffic behaviors, and (2) brief verbal descriptions of that behavior. They were asked to rate the extent to which these behaviors were intentional and judge the plausibility of different types of causal explanations. The results indicate that people (a) view autonomous car behavior as goal-directed, (b) discriminate between intentional and unintentional autonomous car behaviors, and (c) view the causes of autonomous and human traffic behaviors similarly, in terms of both intentionality ascriptions and behavior explanations. However, there was considerably lower agreement in participant ratings of the driverless behaviors, which might indicate an increased difficulty in interpreting goal-directed behavior of autonomous systems.
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| 17. |
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| 18. |
-
Proceedings of the 14th SweCog Conference : Linköping 2018, 11-12 October
- 2018
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Editorial proceedings (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Welcome to SweCog 2018 in Linköping!This booklet contains the program and short papers for oral and poster presentations at SweCog 2018, this year’s edition of the annual conference of the Swedish Cognitive Science Society. Following the SweCog tradition and its aim to support networking among researchers in cognitive science and related areas, contributions cover a wide spectrum of research.A trend in recent years, also reflected in this year’s conference program, is an increasing number of contributions that deal with different types of autonomous technologies, such as social robots, virtual agents or automated vehicles, and in particular people’s interaction with such systems. This clearly is a growing research area of high societal relevance, where cognitive science - with its interdisciplinary and human-centered approach - can make significant contributions.We look forward to two exciting days in Linköping, and we thank the many people who have contributed to the organization of this year’s SweCog conference, in particular of course all authors and reviewers! The organization of SweCog 2018 has been supported by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Culture Communication (IKK), and the Department of Computer Information Science (IDA) at Linköpping University, as well as Cambio Healthcare Systems and Visual Sweden.Tom Ziemke, Mattias Arvola, Nils Dahlbäc and Erik Billing
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
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| 21. |
- Richardson, Kathleen, et al.
(author)
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Robot Enhanced Therapy for Children with Autism (DREAM) : A Social Model of Autism
- 2018
-
In: IEEE technology & society magazine. - : IEEE. - 0278-0097 .- 1937-416X. ; 37:1, s. 30-39
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The development of social robots for children with autism has been a growth field for the past 15 years. This article reviews studies in robots and autism as a neurodevelopmental disorder that impacts socialcommunication development, and the ways social robots could help children with autism develop social skills. Drawing on ethics research from the EU-funded Development of Robot-Enhanced Therapy for Children with Autism (DREAM) project (framework 7), this paper explores how ethics evolves and developed in this European project.
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| 22. |
- Sharkey, Noel E., et al.
(author)
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Life, Mind and Robots : The Ins and Outs of Embodied Cognition
- 1999
-
Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Many believe that the major problem facing traditional artificial intelligence (and the functional theory of mind) is how to connect intelligence to the outside world. Some turned to robotic functionalism and a hybrid response, that attempts to rescue symbolic functionalism by grounding the symbol system with a connectionist hook to the world. Others turned to an alternative approach, embodied cognition, that emerged from an older tradition in biology, ethology, and behavioural modelling. Both approaches are contrasted here before a detailed exploration of embodiment is conducted. In particular we ask whether strong embodiment is possible for robotics, i.e. are robot "minds'' similar to animal minds, or is the role of robotics to provide a tool for scientific exploration, a weak embodiment? We define two types of embodiment, Loebian and Uexküllian, that express two different views of the relation between body, mind and behaviour. It is argued that strong embodiment, either Loebian or Uexküllian, is not possible for present day robotics. However, weak embodiment is still a useful way forward.
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| 23. |
- Sharkey, Noel, et al.
(author)
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Life, Mind, and Robots : The Ins and Outs of Embodied Cognition
- 2000
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In: Hybrid Neural Systems. - Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer. - 3540673059 - 9783540673057 - 9783540464174 ; , s. 313-332
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Many believe that the major problem facing traditional arti-ficial intelligence (and the functional theory of mind) is how to connect intelligence to the outside world. Some turned to robotic functionalism and a hybrid response, that attempts to rescue symbolic functionalism by grounding the symbol system with a connectionist hook to the world. Others turned to an alternative approach, embodied cognition, that emer-ged from an older tradition in biology, ethology, and behavioural model-ling. Both approaches are contrasted here before a detailed exploration of embodiment is conducted. In particular we ask whether strong embo-diment is possible for robotics, i.e. are robot\minds" similar to animal minds, or is the role of robotics to provide a tool for scientific explora-tion, a weak embodiment? We define two types of embodiment, Loebian and Uexkullian, that express two different views of the relation between body, mind and behaviour. It is argued that strong embodiment, either Loebian or Uexkullian, is not possible for present day robotics. However, weak embodiment is still a useful way forward. © 2000 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
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| 24. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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Does Emotional State Affect How People Perceive Robots?
- 2021
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In: HRI 21: COMPANION OF THE 2021 ACM/IEEE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION. - New York, NY, USA : ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY. - 9781450382908 ; , s. 113-115
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Emotions serve important regulatory roles in social interaction. Although recognition, modeling, and expression of emotion have been extensively researched in human-robot interaction and related fields, the role of human emotion in perceptions of and interactions with robots has so far received considerably less attention. We here report inconclusive results from a pilot study employing an affect induction procedure to investigate the effect of people's emotional state on their perceptions of human-likeness and mind in robots, as well as attitudes toward robots. We propose a new study design based on the findings from this study.
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| 25. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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Folk-Psychological Interpretation of Human vs. Humanoid Robot Behavior : Exploring the Intentional Stance toward Robots
- 2017
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In: Frontiers in Psychology. - : Frontiers Media S.A.. - 1664-1078. ; 8
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- People rely on shared folk-psychological theories when judging behavior. These theories guide people's social interactions and therefore need to be taken into consideration in the design of robots and other autonomous systems expected to interact socially with people. It is, however, not yet clear to what degree the mechanisms that underlie people's judgments of robot behavior overlap or differ from the case of human or animal behavior. To explore this issue, participants (N = 90) were exposed to images and verbal descriptions of eight different behaviors exhibited either by a person or a humanoid robot. Participants were asked to rate the intentionality, controllability and desirability of the behaviors, and to judge the plausibility of seven different types of explanations derived from a recently proposed psychological model of lay causal explanation of human behavior. Results indicate: substantially similar judgments of human and robot behavior, both in terms of (1a) ascriptions of intentionality/controllability/desirability and in terms of (1b) plausibility judgments of behavior explanations; (2a) high level of agreement in judgments of robot behavior -(2b) slightly lower but still largely similar to agreement over human behaviors; (3) systematic differences in judgments concerning the plausibility of goals and dispositions as explanations of human vs. humanoid behavior. Taken together, these results suggest that people's intentional stance toward the robot was in this case very similar to their stance toward the human.
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| 26. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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In the eyes of the beheld: Do people think that self-driving cars see what human drivers see?
- 2023
-
In: Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450399708 ; , s. 612-616
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Safe interaction with automated vehicles requires that human road users understand the differences between the capabilities and limitations of human drivers and their artificial counterparts. Here we explore how people judge what self-driving cars versus human drivers can perceive by engaging online study participants in visual perspective taking toward a car pictured in various traffic scenes. The results indicate that people do not expect self-driving cars to differ significantly from human drivers in their capability to perceive objects in the environment. This finding is important because unmet expectations can result in detrimental interaction outcomes, such as traffic accidents. The extent to which people are able to calibrate their expectations remains an open question for future research.
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| 27. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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Lay causal explanations of human vs. humanoid behavior
- 2017
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In: Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319674018 - 9783319674001 ; , s. 433-436
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The present study used a questionnaire-based method for investigating people's interpretations of behavior exhibited by a person and a humanoid robot, respectively. Participants were given images and verbal descriptions of different behaviors and were asked to judge the plausibility of seven causal explanation types. Results indicate that human and robot behavior are explained similarly, but with some significant differences, and with less agreement in the robot case.
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| 28. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
-
Mental State Attribution to Robots: A Systematic Review of Conceptions, Methods, and Findings
-
Other publication (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The topic of mental state attribution to robots has been approached by researchers from a variety of disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, computer science, and philosophy. As a consequence, the empirical studies that have been conducted so far exhibit considerable diversity in terms of how the phenomenon is described and how it is approached from a theoretical and methodological standpoint. This literature review addresses the need for a shared scientific understanding of mental state attribution to robots by systematically and comprehensively collating conceptions, methods, and findings from 155 empirical studies across multiple disciplines. The findings of the review include that: (1) the terminology used to describe mental state attribution to robots is diverse but largely homogenous in usage; (2) the tendency to attribute mental states to robots is determined by factors such as the age and motivation of the human as well as the behavior, appearance, and identity of the robot; (3) there is a computer < robot < human pattern in the tendency to attribute mental states that appears to be moderated by the presence of socially interactive behavior; (4) there are apparent contradictions in the empirical literature that stem from different sources of evidence, including self-report and non-verbal behavioral or neurological data. The review contributes toward more cumulative research on the topic and opens up for a transdisciplinary discussion about the nature of the phenomenon and what types of research methods are appropriate for investigation.
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| 29. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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Out of Sight, Out of Mind? Investigating People's Assumptions About Object Permanence in Self-Driving Cars
- 2023
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In: Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. - New York, NY, USA : ACM Digital Library. - 9781450399708 ; , s. 602-606
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Safe and efficient interaction with autonomous road vehicles requires that human road users, including drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians, understand differences between the capabilities and limitations of self-driving vehicles and those of human drivers. In this study, we explore how people judge the ability of self-driving cars versus human drivers to keep track of out-of-sight objects by engaging online study participants in cognitive perspective taking toward a car in an animated traffic scene. The results indicate that people may expect self-driving cars to have similar object permanence capability as human drivers. This finding is important because unmet expectations on autonomous road vehicles can result in undesirable interaction outcomes, such as traffic accidents.
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| 30. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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Social attitudes toward robots are easily manipulated
- 2017
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In: Proceedings of the Companion of the 2017 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. - New York, NY, USA : ACM Digital Library. - 9781450348850 ; , s. 299-300
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Participants in a study concerning social attitudes toward robots were randomly assigned a questionnaire form displaying a non-, semi- or highly anthropomorphic robot as a hidden intervention. Results indicate that asking people about their attitudes toward "robots" in general -- as done in some studies -- is questionable, given that (a) outcomes can vary significantly depending on the type of robot they have in mind, and (b) it is therefore easy to intentionally or unintentionally manipulate results by priming respondents with positive or negative examples.
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| 31. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
-
Social Attitudes Toward Robots are Easily Manipulated
- 2017
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In: HRI’17. - New York, NY, USA : ACM Digital Library. - 9781450348850 ; , s. 299-300
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Participants in a study concerning social attitudes toward robots were randomly assigned a questionnaire form displaying a non-, semi- or highly anthropomorphic robot as a hidden intervention. Results indicate that asking people about their attitudes toward "robots" in general -- as done in some studies -- is questionable, given that (a) outcomes can vary significantly depending on the type of robot they have in mind, and (b) it is therefore easy to intentionally or unintentionally manipulate results by priming respondents with positive or negative examples.
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| 32. |
- Thellman, Sam
(author)
-
Social Robots as Intentional Agents
- 2021
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Social robots are robots that are intended for social interaction with people. Because of the societal benefits that they are expected to bring, social robots are likely to become more common. Notably, social robots may be able to perform tasks that require social skills, such as communicating efficiently, coordinating actions, managing relationships, and building trust and rapport. However, robotic systems currently lack most of the technological preconditions for interacting socially. This means that until the necessary technology is developed, humans will have to do most of the work coordinating social interactions with robots. However, social robots are a phenomenon that might also challenge the human ability to interact socially. In particular, the actions of social robots may be less predictable to the ordinary people who will interact with them than the comparable actions of humans. In anticipating the actions of other people, we commonly employ folk-psychological assumptions about what others are likely to believe, want, and intend to do, given the situation that they are in. Folk psychology allows us to make instantaneous, unconscious judgments about the likely actions of others around us, and therefore, to interact socially. However, the application of folk psychology will be challenged in the context of social interaction with robots because of significant differences between humans and robots.This thesis addresses the scope and limits of people's ability to interact socially with robots by treating them as intentional agents, i.e., agents whose behavior is most appropriately predicted by attributing it to underlying intentional states, such as beliefs and desires. The thesis provides an analysis of the problem(s) of attributing behavior-congruent intentional states to robots, with a particular focus on the perceptual belief problem, i.e., the problem of understanding what robots know (and do not know) about objects and events in the environment based on their perception. The thesis presents evidence that people's understanding of robots as intentional agents is important to their ability to interact socially with them but that it may also be significantly limited by (1) the extendability of the rich folk-psychological understanding that people have gained from sociocultural experiences with humans and other social animals to interactions with robots, and (2) the integrability of new experiences with robots into a usable and reasonable accurate folk psychological understanding of them. Studying the formation and application of folk psychology in interactions with robots should therefore be a central undertaking in social robotics research.
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| 33. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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The Intentional Stance Toward Robots : Conceptual and Methodological Considerations
- 2019
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In: CogSci'19. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. - : Cognitive Science Society, Inc.. - 0991196775 - 9780991196777 ; , s. 1097-1103
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- It is well known that people tend to anthropomorphize in interpretationsand explanations of the behavior of robots and otherinteractive artifacts. Scientific discussions of this phenomenontend to confuse the overlapping notions of folk psychology,theory of mind, and the intentional stance. We provide a clarificationof the terminology, outline different research questions,and propose a methodology for making progress in studyingthe intentional stance toward robots empirically.
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| 34. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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The Perceptual Belief Problem : Why Explainability Is a Tough Challenge in Social Robotics
- 2021
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In: ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction. - : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 2573-9522. ; 10:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The explainability of robotic systems depends on people’s ability to reliably attribute perceptual beliefs to robots, i.e., what robots know (or believe) about objects and events in the world based on their perception. However, the perceptual systems of robots are not necessarily well understood by the majority of people interacting with them. In this article, we explain why this is a significant, difficult, and unique problem in social robotics. The inability to judge what a robot knows (and does not know) about the physical environment it shares with people gives rise to a host of communicative and interactive issues, including difficulties to communicate about objects or adapt to events in the environment. The challenge faced by social robotics researchers or designers who want to facilitate appropriate attributions of perceptual beliefs to robots is to shape human–robot interactions so that people understand what robots know about objects and events in the environment. To meet this challenge, we argue, it is necessary to advance our knowledge of when and why people form incorrect or inadequate mental models of robots’ perceptual and cognitive mechanisms. We outline a general approach to studying this empirically and discuss potential solutions to the problem.
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| 35. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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What Is It Like to Be a Bot? : Toward More Immediate Wizard-of-Oz Control in Social Human–Robot Interaction
- 2017
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In: HAI 2017 Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Human Agent Interaction. - New York, NY. : ACM Press. - 9781450351133 ; , s. 435-438
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Several Wizard-of-Oz techniques have been developed to make robots appear autonomous and more social in human-robot interaction. Many of the existing solutions use control interfaces that introduce significant time delays and hamper the robot operator's ability to produce socially appropriate responses in real time interactions. We present work in progress on a novel wizard control interface designed to overcome these limitations:a motion tracking-based system which allows the wizard to act as if he or she is the robot. The wizard sees the other through the robot's perspective, and uses his or her own bodily movements to control it. We discuss potential applications and extensions of this system, and conclude by discussing possible methodological advantages and disadvantages.
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| 36. |
- Thellman, Sam, et al.
(author)
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Will It Yield: Expectations on Automated Shuttle Bus Interactions With Pedestrians and Bicyclists
- 2023
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In: HRI '23: Companion of the 2023 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450399708 ; , s. 292-296
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Autonomous vehicles that operate on public roads need to be predictable to others, including vulnerable road users. In this study, we asked participants to take the perspective of videotaped pedestrians and cyclists crossing paths with an automated shuttle bus, and to (1) judge whether the bus would stop safely in front of them and (2) report whether the bus's actual stopping behavior accorded with their expectations. The results show that participants expected the bus to brake safely in approximately two thirds of the human-vehicle interactions, more so to pedestrians than cyclists, and that they tended to underestimate rather than overestimate the bus's capability to yield in ways that they considered as safe. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of automated shuttle bus services.
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| 37. |
- Thill, Serge, et al.
(author)
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The Role of Intentions in Human-Robot Interaction
- 2017
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In: HRI’17. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450348850 ; , s. 427-428
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- To be able to understand the intentions of other agents is a fundamental prerequisite for engaging in, for instance, instrumental helping or mutual collaboration. In HRI, the challenge is bi-directional: not only does a robot need the ability to infer intentions of humans, but humans also need to infer the intentions of the robot. It is therefore important to be clear about the theoretical frameworks and inherent assumptions underlying technological implementations related to mutual intention understanding. This remains very much an active research area in which further development is necessary. The core purpose of this workshop is to advance the state of the art in this area.
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| 38. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, et al.
(author)
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A Wizard of Oz Approach to Robotic Therapy for Older Adults With Depressive Symptoms
- 2021
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In: HRI '21 Companion: Companion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction. - New York, NY, USA : Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). - 9781450382908 ; , s. 294-297
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Older adults with late-life depression often suffer from cognitive symptoms, such as dementia. This patient group is not prioritised for psychotherapy and therefore often medicated with antidepressants. However, in the last 20-years, the evidence base for psychotherapy has increased and one promising area is technology-based psychotherapy. Investigations of the possibilities in this area are also motivated by the Covid-19 pandemic, where many older adults are isolated, which makes it impossible for them to meet with a therapist. Therefore, we have developed a Wizard of Oz system allowing a human therapist to control a humanoid robot through a graphical user interface, including natural speech for natural conversations, which enables the robot to be stationed in, for example, a care home. For future research, we will conduct user-centered studies with both therapists and older adults to further develop the system.
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| 39. |
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| 40. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Are People Ready for Unexpected Encounters With Social Robots?
- 2020
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In: The Forgotten in HRI.
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent developments in robotics are potentially changing the nature of service, and research in human-robot interaction has previously shown that humanoid robots could possibly work in public spaces. We conducted a mixed-method study with the humanoid robot Pepper at a central train station. The results indicate that people are not yet accustomed to talking to robots, and people seem to expect that the robot does not talk, that it is a queue ticket machine, or that one should interact with it by using the tablet on the robot's chest.
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| 41. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, 1994-
(author)
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Companion Robots for Older Adults : A Mixed-Methods Approach to Deployments in Care Homes
- 2024
-
Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This thesis explores, through a mixed-methods approach, what happens when companion robots are deployed in care homes for older adults by looking at different perspectives from key stakeholders. Nine studies are presented with decision makers in municipalities, care staff and older adults, as participants, and the studies have primarily been carried out in the field in care homes and activity centres, where both qualitative (e.g., observations and workshops) and quantitative data (surveys) have been collected. The thesis shows that companion robots seem to be here to stay and that they can contribute to a higher quality of life for some older adults. It further presents some challenges with a certain discrepancy between what decision makers want and what staff might be able to facilitate. For future research and use of companion robots, it is key to evaluate each robot model and potential use case separately and develop clear routines for how they should be used, and most importantly, let all stakeholders be part of the process. The knowledge contribution is the holistic view of how different actors affect each other when emerging robot technology is introduced in a care environment.
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| 42. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, et al.
(author)
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Do robot pets decrease agitation in dementia patients? : An Ethnographic Approach
- 2020
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In: Social Robotics: 12th International Conference, ICSR 2020, Golden, CO, USA, November 14–18, 2020, Proceedings. - Cham : Springer Berlin/Heidelberg. - 9783030620554 - 9783030620561 ; , s. 616-627
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Companion robots, and especially robotic pets, have been argued to have the potential for improving the well-being of elderly people with dementia. Previous research has mainly focused on short-term studies, conducted with relatively expensive robot platforms. With cheaper options on the market, residential homes in Sweden have started to use low-cost off-the-shelf platforms, such as the Joy for All cats and dogs, which have not been the subject of much previous research. We therefore conducted two ethnographic long-term studies of real-world use of the Joy for All robot cat and dog at a care home facility. The care staff report positive outcomes regarding reminiscence and improved well-being, with decreased agitation and increased communication. Furthermore, the robots are perceived to provide companionship and to give patients the feeling of being able to take care of someone. Based on the insights gained in this real-world study of the use of robotic pets in elderly care, we identify a number of research questions and methodological issues for future research.
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| 43. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, et al.
(author)
-
Don't Judge a Book by its Cover : A Study of the Social Acceptance of NAO vs. Pepper
- 2017
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In an explorative study concerning the social acceptance of two specific humanoid robots, the experimenter asked participants (N = 36) to place a book in an adjacent room. Upon entering the room, participants were confronted by a NAO or a Pepper robot expressing persistent opposition against the idea of placing the book in the room. On average, 72% of participants facing NAO complied with the robot's requests and returned the book to the experimenter. The corresponding figure for the Pepper robot was 50%, which shows that the two robot morphologies had a different effect on participants' social behavior. Furthermore, results from a post-study questionnaire (GODSPEED) indicated that participants perceived NAO as more likable, intelligent, safe and lifelike than Pepper. Moreover, participants used significantly more positive words and fewer negative words to describe NAO than Pepper in an open-ended interview. There was no statistically significant difference between conditions in participants' negative attitudes toward robots in general, as assessed using the NARS questionnaire.
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| 44. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, 1994-, et al.
(author)
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Evaluation of PICTIVE as a User-Centered Design Method in Human-Robot Interaction
- 2019
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In: 1st Edition of Quality of Interaction in Socially Assistive Robots (QISAR) Workshop.
-
Conference paper (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Interaction between humans and interactive robots will benefit if people have a clear mental model of the robots' intent and situation awareness. But how do we design human-robot interactions to achieve this? Previous research has shown that one can change people's mental models of robots by manipulating the robot's physical appearance, but this has often not been done in a user-centered way, i.e. that interactions are not created based on what users need and want. We tested how a participatory design method, PICTIVE, could be used to extract design ideas about how a humanoid robot could communicate intent and awareness. Five participants went through three phases: label, sketch and interview; based on eight scenarios, from the state-of-the-art tasks in the RoboCup@Home challenge. The results show that participatory design can be a suitable method to create design concepts in HRI.
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| 45. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, et al.
(author)
-
Social Robots in Care Homes for Older Adults : Observations from Participatory Design Workshops
- 2021
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In: Social Robotics. - Cham : SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG. ; , s. 475-486
-
Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Evaluations of social robots for older adults in care home environments during the past 20 years have shown mostly positive results. However, many of these studies have been short-term and with few participants, as well as limited to few countries. Recent evidence, however, indicates that social robots might not work in all settings or for everyone. Therefore, we conducted a participatory workshop with key stakeholders as an attempt to begin to disentangle the many interrelated factors behind a successful implementation. The result showed similarities in preferred embodiment and morphology, differences in behavioural complexity and task performance, as well as a maybe surprising lack of interest in emotional support. It further showed that older adults living in care homes prior—to meeting social robots—showed relatively little interest in these robots. Based on these observations, we formulate future research directions.
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| 46. |
- Thunberg, Sofia, et al.
(author)
-
User-centred design of humanoid robots’ communication
- 2020
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In: Paladyn - Journal of Behavioral Robotics. - : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. - 2080-9778 .- 2081-4836. ; 12:1, s. 58-73
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Interaction between humans and robots will benefit if people have at least a rough mental model of what a robot knows about the world and what it plans to do. But how do we design human-robot interactions to facilitate this? Previous research has shown that one can change people’s mental models of robots by manipulating the robots’ physical appearance. However, this has mostly not been done in a user-centred way, i.e. without a focus on what users need and want. Starting from theories of how humans form and adapt mental models of others, we investigated how the participatory design method, PICTIVE, can be used to generate design ideas about how a humanoid robot could communicate. Five participants went through three phases based on eight scenarios from the state-of-the-art tasks in the RoboCup@Home social robotics competition. The results indicate that participatory design can be a suitable method to generate design concepts for robots’ communication in human-robot interaction.
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| 47. |
- Ziemke, Tom, 1969-
(author)
-
Czym jest to, co zwiemy ucieleśnieniem? : (What's that Thing Called Embodiment?)
- 2015
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In: AVANT - Trends in Interdisciplinary Studies. - Warsaw, Poland : Osrodek Badan Filozoficznych. - 2082-6710. ; VI:3, s. 161-174
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ucieleśnienie stało się ważnym pojęciem wielu obszarów kognitywistyki. Jednakróżnie określa się, czym ono dokładnie jest i jakiego rodzaju ciała wymagasię dla określonego typu poznania ucieleśnionego. Stąd chociaż wiele osóbzgodziłoby się dzisiaj, że ludzie są ucieleśnionymi podmiotami poznającymi,nie ma pełnej zgody co do tego, jakiego rodzaju artefakt można uznać za ucieleśniony.W tym artykule wyróżniamy i zestawiamy sześć różnych pojęć ucieleśnienia,które z grubsza można scharakteryzować jako: (1) sprzężenie strukturalnemiędzy podmiotem [agent] a środowiskiem, (2) ucieleśnienie historycznejako coś, co wynika z historii sprzężenia strukturalnego, (3) ucieleśnieniefizyczne, (4) ucieleśnienie organizmoidalne, czyli dotyczące organizmopodobnychform cielesnych (na przykład robotów humanoidalnych), (5) ucieleśnienieorganizmowe autopojetycznych, żywych systemów oraz (6) ucieleśnieniespołeczne.
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| 48. |
- Ziemke, Tom, professor, 1969-, et al.
(author)
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How puzzling is the social artifact puzzle?
- 2023
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In: Behavioral and Brain Sciences. - 0140-525X .- 1469-1825. ; 46
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this commentary we would like to question (a) Clark and Fischer's characterization of the “social artifact puzzle” – which we consider less puzzling than the authors, and (b) their account of social robots as depictions involving three physical scenes – which to us seems unnecessarily complex. We contrast the authors' model with a more parsimonious account based on attributions.
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| 49. |
- Ziemke, Tom, 1969-
(author)
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Understanding robots
- 2020
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In: SCIENCE ROBOTICS. - Washington, DC, United States : AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE. - 2470-9476. ; 5:46
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Elucidating the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying people’s interpretation of robot behavior can inform the design of interactive autonomous systems, such as social robots and automated vehicles.
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| 50. |
- Ziemke, Tom, professor, 1969-
(author)
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Understanding Social Robots: Attribution of Intentional Agency to Artificial and Biological Bodies
- 2023
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In: Artificial Life. - : MIT Press. - 1064-5462 .- 1530-9185. ; 29:3, s. 351-366
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Much research in robotic artificial intelligence (AI) and Artificial Life has focused on autonomous agents as an embodied and situated approach to AI. Such systems are commonly viewed as overcoming many of the philosophical problems associated with traditional computationalist AI and cognitive science, such as the grounding problem (Harnad) or the lack of intentionality (Searle), because they have the physical and sensorimotor grounding that traditional AI was argued to lack. Robot lawn mowers and self-driving cars, for example, more or less reliably avoid obstacles, approach charging stations, and so on—and therefore might be considered to have some form of artificial intentionality or intentional directedness. It should be noted, though, that the fact that robots share physical environments with people does not necessarily mean that they are situated in the same perceptual and social world as humans. For people encountering socially interactive systems, such as social robots or automated vehicles, this poses the nontrivial challenge to interpret them as intentional agents to understand and anticipate their behavior but also to keep in mind that the intentionality of artificial bodies is fundamentally different from their natural counterparts. This requires, on one hand, a “suspension of disbelief ” but, on the other hand, also a capacity for the “suspension of belief.” This dual nature of (attributed) artificial intentionality has been addressed only rather superficially in embodied AI and social robotics research. It is therefore argued that Bourgine and Varela’s notion of Artificial Life as the practice of autonomous systems needs to be complemented with a practice of socially interactive autonomous systems, guided by a better understanding of the differences between artificial and biological bodies and their implications in the context of social interactions between people and technology.
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