Classifying Human and Robot Movement at Home and Implementing Robot Movement Using the Slow In, Slow Out Animation Principle

Abstract

We examine how robot movement can help human-robot interaction in the context of a robot helping people over 60-years old at home. Many people are not familiar with a robot moving in their home. We present four movement conditions to classify movement between a human and robot at home. Using phenomenology and familiarity, we recognize some of these conditions from other interactions people have with other moving things. Using techniques from animation in movies, we give to the robot a distinctive style that can make the robot’s movement more familiar and easier to understand. Further on, we examine animation and present how to implement the animation principle of slow in, slow out with a research robot that can control its speed. We close the paper with future work on how to use the classification system, how to build on the slow in, slow out principle implementation for animated robots, and an outline for a future experiment.