Bridging an Interspecies Gap? Toward Human-Insectoid Robot Interaction

Hoinville, T; Krause, AF; Schilling, M; Cruse, H

Zusammenfassung

Insect-inspired control approaches often provide adaptive, robust and cheap solutions to common robotic problems. However, insect-like morphologies and sensors greatly differ from human capabilities and may therefore impede intuitive interaction with those machines. How to overcome that very asymmetric human-robot interaction? How to make insect-like mechanisms more transparent to exploit, while keeping their advantages? We first present practical observations focusing on an insectoid robot equipped with active antennae, and then expose verbal communication concepts for embodied cognition. Finally, we discuss how to combine insect-like processes intelligible to humans (e.g. visuo-tactile attention) with capabilities exceeding those of the insects (e.g. intuitive gestures, verbal communication).