Computer robot controls people

Roco is quite flexible thanks to joints in the neck (Photo: Rembrana.ru)

That is the special ability of computers RoCo (shortened name from Robotic Computer), the work of engineers at the Masachusset Technical University (MIT) of the US.

RoCo was introduced at the International Conference on Human (Robot Interaction) conference held last 9-11 November in Washington DC. Its external shape is like a computer with a flat screen mounted on an articulated stand.

Monitor is similar to the head, the stand is neck, the display is the face. The robot's neck with joints is fitted with a control system that makes the head move. When RoCo works, it can move head flexibly.

We all know, means of communication are not just words, facial expressions, but gestures and actions. Based on this principle, Cynthia Breazeal (an MIT professor) created RoCo. She and her colleagues found that the emotional state greatly affects the posture of the person at work, which in turn can change the state of the human being by changing the posture.

But what to do? They find that while communicating, people often unconsciously repeat the gestures and postures of the dialogist (not to imitate completely but to a certain extent). Therefore, they made RoCo able to react to some movements of people in front of the screen . They did the experiment as follows: Divide the number of volunteers participating in the experiment into 2 groups, group 1 was awarded easy lessons, group 2 was assigned ' impossible task '. As a result, there are 'passers' and ' unsatisfactory ' people.

Then let these people sit in front of RoCo and give them a new topic then the result l In each of these groups there is a differentiation: those who " hit " in the first group sitting in front of the computer with the screen facing up to the sky seem patient when solving conundrums rather than those sitting in front of the screen. Wish down. And those who don't 'meet' in the first experiment when they sit in front of the down screen become more agile than those who sit in front of the screen facing up.

This leads to people working with computers more effectively when their sit-ups fit into the computer's ' sitting position '. It can be concluded: 3 factors are the mood, the sitting position of the person and the " seat " of the computer that affects each other.

Professor Cynthia hopes to apply RoCo's ability to pedagogy to develop children's ability to concentrate and diligence. In the short term, this long-neck computer has a simpler application: if the person sitting in front of the computer is in the wrong position, harmful to health, RoCo will shake his head to remind him to sit properly. so

(You can see RoCo shaking his head at the address: //www.membrana.ru/articles/technic/2007/03/23/192200.html).

Quynh Anh