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Multimodal Open-Domain Conversations with the Nao Robot

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Natural Interaction with Robots, Knowbots and Smartphones

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the design of human-robot interaction focussing especially on social robot communication and multimodal information presentation. As a starting point we use the WikiTalk application, an open-domain conversational system which has been previously developed using a robotics simulator. We describe how it can be implemented on the Nao robot platform, enabling Nao to make informative spoken contributions on a wide range of topics during conversation. Spoken interaction is further combined with gesturing in order to support Nao’s presentation by natural multimodal capabilities, and to enhance and explore natural communication between human users and robots.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Adam Csapo, Emer Gilmartin, Jonathan Grizou, JingGuang Han, Raveesh Meena and Dimitra Anastasiou for implementing and evaluating Nao WikiTalk and the multimodal interaction capabilities on the Nao robot at eNTERFACE 2012 in Metz in July 2012.

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Correspondence to Kristiina Jokinen .

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Jokinen, K., Wilcock, G. (2014). Multimodal Open-Domain Conversations with the Nao Robot. In: Mariani, J., Rosset, S., Garnier-Rizet, M., Devillers, L. (eds) Natural Interaction with Robots, Knowbots and Smartphones. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8280-2_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8280-2_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-8279-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-8280-2

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