Although it doesn’t have any eyes, arms, or legs, this basic-looking sphere robot greets people as they come into its view.
Created by a team of researchers at the Media Innovation Lab at IDC Herzliya, Israel and a team from Cornell University, the researchers developed the Greeting Machine to determine if a simplistic robot could evoke human responses without using nonverbal cues such as eye contact and facial expressions. The developers have reported that, indeed, it can.
The Greeting Machine is about the size of a volleyball and contains electronic sensors that detect when a person has come into its radius. It also has a control mechanism with a magnet at the end that controls the smaller sphere located on the outside of the larger sphere. The magnet moves along the interior surface of the sphere, which controls the small pea-sized circle.
The engineers who created the bot met with experts on developing a way for the robot to greet people. Who better to offer advice than puppeteers, animators, choreographers, and psychologists? The team generated eight greetings that were grouped into two categories: avoid and approach.
In the avoid group, the smaller sphere rolls to the backside of the larger sphere or stops on the side of the large sphere. In the approach group, the small circle rolls to a position where it can be seen by the person entering the room. The researchers even added variations to the bot’s “animation,” such as integrating vibration.
The researchers tested the Greeting Machine and reported it was well received when engaged in approach settings. The volunteers reported they felt as if the robot were looking at them and accepting their presence. Most said they liked the animated greetings better, which some suggested added an element of excitement. Contrary to this, the volunteers who were greeted while the sphere was in the avoid setting said they did not care for the bot’s greeting and felt as if the robot had turned its back on them.
The researchers believe developing robots similar to the Greeting Machine is promising for future robotic devices due to low cost, less complexity, and design flexibility.