How Can Robots Get Our Attention?

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that they can program a robot to understand when it gains a human’s attention and when it falls short. Aaron Bobick, professor and chair of the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, discusses why it’s important for robots to understand social convention, if they are going to successfully interact with humans. The research was performed using the robot Simon, from the Socially Intelligent Machines lab directed by Assistant Professor Andrea Thomaz in the College of Computing. For the written story see Video: Rob Felt, David Terraso/Georgia Tech Photos: Rob Felt/Georgia Tech