Robotic Bartender James Taught How To Recognise Customer's Wishes
A team of researchers from Bielefeld University in Edinburgh is busy teaching their Robotic Bartender 'James' techniques that can help him recognise if a customer wishes to place an order or not. Not only has James got to learn how to focus on the social signals, but he also has to do it while avoiding all other unwanted data coming at him from all directions. Bielefeld researchers have begun thinking of ways with which they could make a robot understand human communication and respond by serving drinks appropriately.
Sebastian Loth (left) and Jan de Ruiter (Right) - Researchers at Bielesfeld University
They started by putting participants of their research in the shoes of a robot bartender and made them do things the way a normal human bartender would do. They collected data such as visibility of customer, his position at the bar, facial features, body angle etc.
The answers were found by figuring out if a robotic bartender could mimic the strategies used by an actual bartender. The participants were made to choose an action from the robot's database. So essentially, it was like what would you do if you were a robotic bartender.
Videos of several such sessions were recorded and they found that the machine required a precise definition of which signals indicate an order and which do not so that the customer's actions are not misinterpreted.
Findings derived from the data collected in the research study showed that the robotic bartender could guess if or not the customer will order, make eye contact at proper time and serve them with appropriate drinks.
The researchers are using all the insights they've got from their experiment to devise strategies and they believe that it can find many applications apart from being of use to service robots of the future.
The results of the research work are available for open access in the research journal named 'Frontiers of Psychology'. These findings can helps roboticists from all over the world to take a step further in the field of developing cognitive interaction technologies.
What are your thoughts about James - the robotic bartender chatting you up and serving you the next time you walk into a bar? Share with us in comments below.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
Sebastian Loth (left) and Jan de Ruiter (Right) - Researchers at Bielesfeld University
They started by putting participants of their research in the shoes of a robot bartender and made them do things the way a normal human bartender would do. They collected data such as visibility of customer, his position at the bar, facial features, body angle etc.
The answers were found by figuring out if a robotic bartender could mimic the strategies used by an actual bartender. The participants were made to choose an action from the robot's database. So essentially, it was like what would you do if you were a robotic bartender.
Videos of several such sessions were recorded and they found that the machine required a precise definition of which signals indicate an order and which do not so that the customer's actions are not misinterpreted.
Findings derived from the data collected in the research study showed that the robotic bartender could guess if or not the customer will order, make eye contact at proper time and serve them with appropriate drinks.
The researchers are using all the insights they've got from their experiment to devise strategies and they believe that it can find many applications apart from being of use to service robots of the future.
The results of the research work are available for open access in the research journal named 'Frontiers of Psychology'. These findings can helps roboticists from all over the world to take a step further in the field of developing cognitive interaction technologies.
What are your thoughts about James - the robotic bartender chatting you up and serving you the next time you walk into a bar? Share with us in comments below.
Source: #-Link-Snipped-#
Replies
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Satya Swaroop DashThe James uses the same machine learning process that has guaranteed accuracy in the past. Moving on to the job of the bartender, well James won’t be a good one because you will miss the personal connection that a bartender gives. James won’t be able to small talk topics and in case of any confrontation with a drunk customer it will be helpless.
You are reading an archived discussion.
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