Toward robots as embodied knowledge media

We describe attempts to have robots behave as embodied knowledge media that will permit knowledge to be communicated through embodied interactions in the real world. The key issue here is to give robots the ability to associate interactions with information content while interacting with a communication partner. Toward this end, we present two contributions in this paper. The first concerns the formation and maintenance of joint intention, which is needed to sustain the communication of knowledge between humans and robots. We describe an architecture consisting of multiple layers that enables interaction with people at different speeds. We propose the use of an affordance-based method for fast interactions. For medium-speed interactions, we propose basing control on an entrainment mechanism. For slow interactions, we propose employing defeasible interaction patterns based on probabilistic reasoning. The second contribution is concerned with the design and implementation of a robot that can listen to a human instructor to elicit knowledge, and present the content of this knowledge to a person who needs it in an appropriate situation. In addition, we discuss future research agenda toward achieving robots serving as embodied knowledge media, and fit the robots-as-embodied-knowledge-media view in a larger perspective of Conversational Informatics.