An animal psychological approach for personal robot design - Interaction between a rat and a rat-robot

T. Aoki*, T. Watanabe, H. Miwa, A. Takanishi

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce an attempt to realize communication between rats and rat-robots for the advancement of communication between humans and robots. By repeating certain interactions between rats and robots, we aim to clarify the effective factors in communication. The experimental system is equipped with a CCD camera above the experimental field. The positions of the rat and the rat-robot are calculated in real-time. We have developed the Rat-Robot WM-5 (Waseda Mouse - No.5). The main features of the robot consist of the similarity in figure and size, the remote control by an FM receiver, the ability to change direction on the spot by the use of a two-wheel mechanism, the shaking of the head, and the behavioral imitation of a rat's mounting. An interactive experiment between a rat and a rat-robot was carried out with the developed system. The rat's behaviors were compared in two cases. The rat-robot mounted the rat in one situation but didn't do it in another. We observed that the robot's action of mounting the rat makes the rat more interested in the robot for longer period of time, and thus the mounting of the robot by the rat occurred. As a result, the imitation of the rat's mounting seems likely to work well in the communication between rats and rat-robots.

Original languageEnglish
Pages365-370
Number of pages6
Publication statusPublished - 2000 Dec 1
Event2000 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems - Takamatsu, Japan
Duration: 2000 Oct 312000 Nov 5

Conference

Conference2000 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityTakamatsu
Period00/10/3100/11/5

Keywords

  • Animal psychology
  • Personal robot
  • Rat and rat-robot interaction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Systems Engineering
  • Software
  • Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
  • Computer Science Applications

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