FaceBots: Steps Towards Enhanced Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction by Utilizing and Publishing Online Social Information

The main problem addressed by this project is that of the creation of sustainable and meaningful long-term human robot relationships. This is a most important problem towards our ultimate goal of human-robot symbiosis, i.e. harmonious and mutually beneficial living together of the two species. In the shorter term, this is an important problem towards the successful application of robots to numerous areas: disabled and elderly assistance / companionship, supporting education, and more. So far, empirical investigations have shown that we have not advanced significantly yet towards its solution: Although existing robotic systems are interesting to interact with in the short term, it has been shown that after some weeks of quasi-regular encounters, humans gradually lose their interest, and meaningful longer-term human-robot relationships are not established. For example, in the case of Robovie [1], there was a steady and significant decrease in the total time of interaction of the robot with humans over six months - interest had worn off.