Proceedings of the AI-HRI Symposium at AAAI-FSS 2019

TL;DR

This paper discusses recent advances in service robots that interact naturally with humans, emphasizing AI and HRI research crucial for autonomous, effective human-robot interactions in unstructured environments.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of AI-HRI research in enabling service robots to interact naturally and autonomously with humans in real-world, unstructured settings.

Findings

Progress in autonomous human-robot interaction

Development of AI models for unstructured environments

Enhanced natural interaction capabilities

Abstract

The past few years have seen rapid progress in the development of service robots. Universities and companies alike have launched major research efforts toward the deployment of ambitious systems designed to aid human operators performing a variety of tasks. These robots are intended to make those who may otherwise need to live in assisted care facilities more independent, to help workers perform their jobs, or simply to make life more convenient. Service robots provide a powerful platform on which to study Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in the real world. Research sitting at the intersection of AI and HRI is crucial to the success of service robots if they are to fulfill their mission. This symposium seeks to highlight research enabling robots to effectively interact with people autonomously while modeling, planning, and reasoning about the environment that the robot operates in and the tasks that it must perform. AI-HRI deals with the challenge of interacting with humans in environments that are relatively unstructured or which are structured around people rather than machines, as well as the possibility that the robot may need to interact naturally with people rather than through teach pendants, programming, or similar interfaces.