Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Virtual Butlers and Real People: Styles and Practices in Long-Term Use of a Companion

  • Chapter
Your Virtual Butler

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 7407))

Abstract

In this chapter, we argue that it is already possible, with existing technologies, to go beyond fictional scenarios of virtual butlers or assistive robot companions, and that realistic, long-term studies of their use contribute much needed knowledge about user styles and hence design requirements. Such a study, undertaken by the EU project SERA (Social Engagement with Robots and Agents) is reported, and the data collected are presented, compared, and discussed. The striking difference between idealized personae (such as "Tina") and real users motivated a detailed case study about the frequently observed issue of initiative and floor management. The case study shows the considerable degree to which users shape human-robot interaction with their individual styles. In conclusion, a few such user styles, together with design consequences, are outlined on the basis of the data analysis, with the aim of enriching future scenario descriptions with more realistic personae.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Gassner, R., Steinmuller, K.: Scenario “Tina and her Butler”. In: Trappl, R. (ed.) Your Virtual Butler. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 7407. Springer, Heidelberg (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Cooper, A.: The Inmates are Running the Asylum. SAMS, New York (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Graf, B., Reiser, U., Hägele, M., Mauz, K., Klein, P.: Robotic Home Assistant Care-O-bot® 3 - Product Vision and Innovation Platform. In: IEEE / Robotics and Automation Society: IEEE Workshop on Advanced Robotics and its Social Impacts, ARSO 2009: Workshop Proceedings, Tokyo, Japan, November 23-25, pp. 139–144. IEEE, Piscataway (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Wada, K., Shibata, T.: Living with seal robots - Its sociopsychological and physiological influences on the elderly at a care house. IEEE Transactions on Robotics 23(5), 972–980 (2007)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kidd, C.D.: Designing for Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction and Application to Weight Loss. PhD Thesis, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT, Cambridge, MA (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Sung, J.-Y., Guo, L., Grinter, R.E., Christensen, H.I.: “My Roomba Is Rambo”: Intimate Home Appliances. In: Krumm, J., Abowd, G.D., Seneviratne, A., Strang, T. (eds.) UbiComp 2007. LNCS, vol. 4717, pp. 145–162. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Creer, S., Cunningham, S., Hawley, M., Wallis, P.: Design decisions for an interactive domestic robot: describing the SERA project set-up. Social Engagement with Robots and Agents. Special Issue, Applied Artificial Intelligence 25(6), 445–473 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Prochaska, J., Velicer, W.: The transtheoretical model of behaviour change. American Journal of Health Promotion 12, 38–48 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Bickmore, T., Picard, R.W.: Establishing and Maintaining Long-Term Human-Computer Relationships. ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction (ToCHI) 59(1), 21–30 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bickmore, T., Schulman, D., Langxuan, Y.: Maintaining Engagement in Long-Term Interventions with Relational Agents. Applied Artificial Intelligence 24(6), 648–666 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Klamer, T., BenAllouch, S.: Acceptance and use of a social robot by elderly users in a domestic environment. In: 4th International ICST Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare 2010, Munich (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Klamer, T., BenAllouch, S.: Zoomorphic robots used by elderly people at home. In: Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2010). ACM Press, Atlanta (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  13. von der Pütten, A., Krämer, N.C., Eimler, S.: Living with a Robot Companion - Empirical Study on the Interaction with an Artificial Health Advisor. In: Proc. 13th International Conference on Multimodal Interaction ICMI, Alicante (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Payr, S.: Ritual or Routine: Communication in Long-Term Relationships with Companions. In: Trappl, R. (ed.) Proceedings EMCSR 2010, Vienna (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Payr, S.: Closing and Closure in Human-Companion Interactions: Analyzing Video Data from a Field Study. Paper Read at 19th IEEE International Symposium in Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), Viareggio, September 12-15 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Heylen, D., op den Akker, R., Mark ter, M., Petta, P., Rank, S., Reidsma, D., Zwiers, J.: On the Nature of Engineering Social Artificial Companions. Social Engagement with Robots and Agents. Special Issue, Applied Artificial Intelligence 25(6), 549–574 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Wallis, P.: A Robot in the Kitchen. In: Proc. ACL 2010, Uppsala (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Wallis, P.: From Data to Design. Social Engagement with Robots and Agents. Special Issue, Applied Artificial Intelligence 25(6) (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Wallis, P., Maier, V., Creer, S., Cunningham, S.: Conversation in Context: what should a robot companion say? In: Trappl, R. (ed.) Proceedings of EMCSR 2010, Vienna (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Goodwin, C.: Video and the analysis of embodied human interaction. In: Kissmann, U.T. (ed.) Video Interaction Analysis, pp. 21–40. Peter Lang, Frankfurt/Main (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Allen, J.F.: Mixed-initiative interaction. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 14–16 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Allen, J.F., Byron, D.K., Dzikovska, M.: Towards Conversational Human-Computer Interaction. AI Magazine (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Fischer, K.: What Computer Talk Is and Isn’t. AQ-Verlag, Saarbrücken (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Byron, D.K.: The OSU Quake 2004 corpus of two-party situated problem-solving dialogs. Tech. Report OSU-CISRC-805-TR57. Ohio State University, Columbus (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Byron, D.K., Fosler-Lussier, E.: The OSU Quake 2004 corpus of two-party situated problem-solving dialogs. In: Proceedings of the 15th Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (LREC 2006), Genoa (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ferguson, G., Allen, J.F., Miller, B.: TRAINS-95: Towards a mixed-initiative planning assistant. In: Drabble, B. (ed.) Proc. 3rd Conference on Artificial Intelligence Planning Systems AIPS-96, Edinburgh, pp. 70–77 (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Chu-Carroll, J., Brown, M.K.: Tracking Initiative in Collaborative Dialog Interactions. In: Proceedings of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL/EACL 1997), Madrid, pp. 262–270 (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Brindöpke, C., Häger, J., Johanntokrax, M., Phade, A., Schwalbe, M., Wrede, B.: Darf ich Dich Marvin nennen? Instruktionsdialoge in einem WoZ-Szenario. Szenario-Design und Asuwertung. In: SFB-Report Situierte künstliche Kommunikatoren 95/16. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Ferguson, G., Allen, J.F.: TRIPS: An Integrated Intelligent Problem-Solving Assistant. In: Proc. AAAI 1998, Madison, WI, pp. 567–573 (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Wallis, P.: Revisiting the DARPA Communicator Data using Conversation Analysis. Interaction Studies 9(3), 434–457 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Payr, S.: So Let’s See: Taking and Keeping the Initiative in Collaborative Dialogues. In: Pelachaud, C., Martin, J.-C., André, E., Chollet, G., Karpouzis, K., Pelé, D. (eds.) IVA 2007. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4722, pp. 175–182. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  32. Maynard, D.W.: Placement of topic changes in conversation. Semiotica 30(3/4), 263–290 (1980)

    Google Scholar 

  33. Okamoto, D.G., Smith-Lovin, L.: Changing the Subject: Gender, Status, and the Dynamics of Topic Change. American Sociological Review 66(6), 852–873 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Schegloff, E.A.: On the Organization of Sequences as a Source of “Coherence” in Talk-in-Interaction. In: Dorval, B. (ed.) Conversational Organization and its Development, pp. 51–77. Ablex, Norwood (1990)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Hutchby, I.: Conversation and Technology. From the Telephone to the Internet. Polity Press, Cambridge (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  36. De Angeli, A., Carpenter, R.: Stupid computer! Abuse and social identities. Paper Read at The Interact 2005 Abuse Workshop, September 2005, Rome (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  37. De Angeli, A.: On verbal abuse towards chatterbots. In: De Angeli, A., Brahnam, S., Wallis, P., Dix, A. (eds.) CHI 2006 Workshop: Misuse and Abuse of Interactive Technologies, pp. 21–24 (2006), http://www.agentabuse.org/papers.htm

  38. Beach, W.A.: Conversation Analysis: “Okay” as a Clue for Understanding Consequentiality. In: Sigman, S.J. (ed.) The Consequentiality of Communication, pp. 121–162. Lawrence Erlbaum Ass., Hillsdale (1995)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Howe, M.: Collaboration on Topic Change in Conversation. In: Ichihashi, K., Linn, M.S. (eds.) Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, pp. 1–14. University of Kansas (1991)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Collins, R.: Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton University Press, Princeton (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  41. Kidd, C.D., Taggart, W., Turkle, S.: A sociable Robot to Encourage Social Interaction among the Elderly. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Robotics and Automation, ICRA 2006, Orlando, Florida, May 15-19, pp. 3972–3976. IEEE (2006)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI), Freyung 6/6/7, 1010, Vienna, Austria

    Sabine Payr

Authors
  1. Sabine Payr
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence (OFAI), Austrian Society for Cypernetic Studies (OSGK), Freyung 6/6, 1010, Vienna, Austria

    Robert Trappl

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Payr, S. (2013). Virtual Butlers and Real People: Styles and Practices in Long-Term Use of a Companion. In: Trappl, R. (eds) Your Virtual Butler. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 7407. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37346-6_11

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37346-6_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-37345-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-37346-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation