UP FRONT ENCORE
Talking to Robots
WMU lab studies how humans and robots communicate by
J. GABRIEL WARE
Researchers Autumn and Chad Edwards study the communication between humans and robots like Nico, the humanoid robot pictured here.
10 | ENCORE MAY 2016
Brian Powers
I
n his 2014 visit to Japan, President Barack Obama drew attention when he bowed and played soccer with ASIMO, a social robot with a human-like appearance. Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull made similar headlines this past December after he shook hands and took a selfie with ASIMO. One day soon we all will be shaking hands and taking selfies with robots like ASIMO, say two Western Michigan University communication professors, and they are preparing for that day by examining humanrobot communication and technology's effects on human-to-human communication in a special research lab at WMU. The Communication and Social Robotics Lab in WMU’s School of Communication was established in 2014 and is a collaborative effort of WMU associate professors Autumn and Chad Edwards and the University of Kentucky’s Patric Spence.
Both universities have corresponding labs that examine human-robot communication, particularly that of social robots, which are designed to interact with humans. “It’s only a matter of time before we see (social) robotics in everyday life,” Chad Edwards says. “This (the WMU lab) is the only lab in the discipline of communication we know about that focuses on social robotics.” Although Chad and Autumn Edwards say it’s not yet clear how people will react to social robots, they have found a consistent pattern in three studies they’ve published since the labs were created. These studies assessed participants’ expectations when they were told that they would be talking to a partner and their subsequent reactions and behaviors when they found out the partner would be a robot. “People expect that they’re going to be talking with another person, so you violate their expectations when a robot shows up instead,” Autumn Edwards says. “Although people may be more fearful or nervous when it comes to talking to a robot, they tend to behave like they would with another person.” The lab is giving WMU students a head start on social robotics research. Autumn Edwards says students are the “heartbeat of the lab” because they drive much of the research. Up to nine undergraduate students and two graduate students work in the lab on independent-study assignments. One