And They Call It Robot Love
From: New Scientist - 01/14/2006 - Vol. 189, No. 2534, P. 48
By: Rachel Nowak

In a recent interview, Mari Velonaki, an electronics enthusiast and an artist
with a PhD, described her research on the interaction between humans and
robots at the Australian Center for Field Robotics. Velonaki developed the
Fish-Bird exhibit, where patrons observe the interactions of a pair of robots
disguised as wheelchairs and Velonaki in turn observes the patrons as they
project distinctly human qualities onto the moody and smitten robots. Based
on a Greek myth of the impossible love between a fish and a bird, Velonaki
chose old wheelchairs as her medium to represent physical limitations,
embedding computers and processors within the upholstery. The two robots
communicate wirelessly through a Bluetooth radio link, and the chairs contain
cameras, infrared collision sensors, and scanning laser measurement devices
to gauge their proximity to each other. Fish and Bird are programmed with
seven moods - one for each day of the week - and three emotional states for
how they feel about themselves and each other: not very happy, neutral, and
positive. The robots have a memory, so their mood alters in response to
recent events, and their interaction with human visitors is also determined
by how many people are in the room, how close they are, and how much time
each person spends with the robots. The robots send each other love letters
and write messages to the patrons that drop out of thermal printers
underneath their seats. People have a variety of reactions to the robots,
with men typically inspecting them to see how they work, while children are
more likely to pet them and try to coax more messages out of them. Velonaki
is astounded at how closely people relate to the robots, despite the fact
that they are wheelchairs. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/mech-tech/mg18925341.600.html

Links:
Mari Velonaki
http://marivelonaki.com/contact.shtml