24 ForOregonState.org/Stater R e s e aR c h R O B O T I C S Community Research Infrastructure program. Once complete, they will go out to researchers across the country. Conceived as a modular, social robot platform for human-robot interaction, each Quori robot is 4.5 feet tall and has a projected face capable of a wide variety of expressions, two gesturing arms, a bowing spine and an omni-directional base rather than legs. Semio will provide software to control the hardware and generate versatile social behaviors. For example, it will ensure that the robot follows social norms like standing at an appropriate distance when interacting with humans, driving up the right side of a crowded hallway and displaying appropriate facial expressions. “All of these are vital social glue if the robot is to integrate seamlessly into human workflows and environments,” Smart said. The Oregon State team will build on the success of an earlier NSFfunded project, by the University of Pennsylvania, Semio and the University of Southern California, that involved designing, building and testing 10 prototype Quori robots and awarding them to research teams. “The current work will incorporate the lessons learned to improve the robot’s design,” Fitter said, “making it easier to manufacture at scale, and to distribute it to a broader set of research groups.” Oregon State’s primary contributions to the project will be beta testing, as well as setting up and maintaining a network of resources surrounding the use of the Quori robot. This will involve online collaboration tools, events and opportunities for researchers to work together — building a community of roboticists that can learn from one another and advance the pace of research. “Part of the focus is bringing new teams into the community and helping them get up to speed by pairing them with more experienced researchers,” Smart said. “This will increase the diversity of people involved in robotics research in the United States and accelerate progress, especially in the field of humanrobot interaction.” This is particularly important because researchers from a broad range of social backgrounds will be better positioned to anticipate the varying etiquette robots will need to know when working with different groups. “Humans are fundamentally social creatures,” Smart added, “and if robots are to work beside us effectively, the robots will have to understand and follow the social rules that we do.” ROBOTS AREN’T JUST TURNING UP IN FACTORIES ANYMORE; THEY’RE ALSO BEING PRESSED INTO SERVICE FOR TASKS THAT REQUIRE MORE OF A ‘HUMAN’ TOUCH. ↓ Professors Bill Smart and Naomi Fitter in the lab with a Quori robot. Anchoring infrastructure not shown Wave devices being tested cont inued
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