Let’s Develop a Researcher Robot!

Due to the COVID-19, we must make many adjustments to minimize physical interactions with others. Experimental research in psychology is not an exception, and it is critical for researchers to come up with ways to conduct studies safely. The use of a robot as an experimenter can be a solution because robots do not breathe or cough! 

In this project, we will develop a researcher robot that welcomes participants and conduct a psychological experiment on behalf of us humans :) We will use Pepper by Softbank Robotics (see here for more information) as the hardware, and design interaction models and develop its software program. The project takes an interdisciplinary perspective using theories from psychology and methods from computer science, communication studies, and other related fields. As such, students from different fields are encouraged to apply. Programming skills are desirable but not required as Pepper comes with its own graphic-based interface called Choregraphe with which even inexperienced users can develop basic applications. All PURE projects are carried out online this semester, and thus we will parimarily use a virtual robot (i.e., a 3D on-screen avator of Pepper).