A robot capable of playing video games with humans

In recent years, engineers have developed a wide range of robotic systems that could soon assist humans in various everyday tasks. Rather than helping with household chores or other manual labor, some of these robots could simply act as companions, helping older adults or people with different disabilities practice skills that typically involve interacting with another To be human.

Researchers at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology in Japan recently developed a new robot capable of playing video games with a human user. This robot, presented in an article presented at the 11th International Conference on Human-Agent Interactioncan play games with users while communicating with them.

“We developed robots that can chat while watching TV together, as well as interaction technology that creates empathy, to create a partner robot that can live with people in their daily lives,” Masayuki Kanbara, one of the researchers who conducted the study. the study, told Tech Xplore. “In this paper, we developed a robot that plays TV games together to allow people to interact with the robot in their daily lives.”

The new robotic system created by Kanbara and his colleagues is based on a dialogue system that supports smooth conversations with human users. This system processes what users say when playing with the robot and produces appropriate responses.

The researchers also developed a system that adapts the game content that a human user and a robot play, for example by changing the game’s characters and what they do. As the game progresses, the robot can say things that fit what’s happening at the time, while still maintaining a friendly tone.

“The proposed robot interacts with a human while playing a competitive game show together to achieve continuous interaction between human and robot in daily life,” Kanbara explained. “The robot is happy when it wins and frustrated when it loses.”

To assess the potential of their proposed robotic system, Kanbara and his colleagues tested it in an experiment involving 30 human participants. These participants were asked to play the same video game alone and collaboratively with the team robot, then share their feedback in a simple questionnaire.

In this questionnaire, most participants stated that they found playing with the robot more enjoyable than playing alone. This highlights the promise of the team’s companion robot to entertain users and enhance their gaming experience.

“In recent years, some have explored the potential of game shows as tools to help older adults exercise their mental skills and stay alert,” Kanbara said. “Therefore, our robot can be used as one of the functions to continue using partner robots that care for and support the lives of elderly people.”

The robot developed by this team of researchers could soon be further improved and tested in additional experimental trials, to further explore its potential. Additionally, this recent study could inspire the development of other interactive, instructive, and robot-assisted gaming experiences targeting specific segments of the population, such as older adults or children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

“The evaluation presented in this paper showed the effectiveness of the proposed robot during a short gameplay period of approximately 15 minutes,” Kanbara added. “In the future, we aim to design robot behavior that continues to motivate interaction over a long period of time, in terms of months or years.”

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