Mako-no-te: Investigating Intersubjectivity with Side-by-Side Walking Robot

Abstract

How do we interact with mechanical systems such as PC, smartphone and so on? Users command something to the system, and the system always accepts and reacts it. That kind of relationship can be named "leader-follower" relationship. On the other hand, thinking about a scene that you have a walk in a park with your partner, there are neither a definite leader nor a follower. You and your partner co-adjust the walking direction and pace by considering each other's intention and feeling from implicit cues. Such relationship has "intersubjectivity" that people share their feeling and intention with others. This study is motivated to build "intersubjective relationship" between human and robot. In this paper, we propose the concept of a side-by-side walking robot "Mako-no-te".