Sheep and wolves: test bed for human-robot interaction

Abstract

This paper presents a dynamic experimental test bed for exploring and evaluating human-robot interaction (HRI). Our system is designed around the concept of playing board games involving collaboration between humans and robots in a shared physical environment. Unlike the classic human-versus-machine situation often established in computer-based board games, our test bed takes advantage of the rich interaction opportunities that arise when humans and robots play collaboratively as a team. To facilitate interaction within a shared physical environment, our game is played on a large checkerboard where human and robotic players can be situated and play as game pieces within the game. With meaningful interaction occurring within our confined setup, various aspects of human-robot interaction can be easily explored and evaluated such as interface methods. We also present the results of a user evaluation which shows the sensitivity of our system in assessing robotic behaviours.