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SUMMARY:Facilitating non-verbal communication with robots: synthesis and p
 erception with applications for clinical communication - Laurel D. Riek (U
 niversity of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20101202T141500Z
DTEND:20101202T151500Z
UID:TALK27274@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Lech Swirski
DESCRIPTION:As robots begin to enter our schools\, workplaces\, and homes\
 , it is important that people are able to interact with them in a way that
  is comfortable and natural to them. Eventually this might be via natural 
 language dialogue\, but given the complexities of language that may be not
  be available for awhile. In the meantime\, another approach is to allow p
 eople to communicate with robots using non-verbal communication\, such as 
 gestures and facial expressions. In addition to ensuring robots are capabl
 e of accurately sensing and interpreting human non-verbal cues\, it is imp
 ortant humans are able to accurately understand the cues robots make.     
                                                                     \n\nTh
 is talk will describe several experiments we have conducted using humanoid
  and android robots which explore various aspects of this problem\, includ
 ing both how to synthesize human-like communicative cues on robots and how
  humans perceive such synthesis. I will also describe new research we are 
 conducting on using robots as simulated patients\, to be used in clinical 
 communication training contexts. In particular\, we are interested in teac
 hing clinicians to be more patient when interacting with people with disor
 ders that cause them to have delayed speech (e.g.\, dystonia\, cerebral pa
 lsy)\, as well as people with disorders that may require unique interactio
 n strategies (e.g.\, schizophrenia\, autism spectrum disorder).
LOCATION:Computer Laboratory\, William Gates Building\, Room SS03
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