Posted on 07/24/2002 4:46:48 PM PDT by GeneD
Filed at 7:12 p.m. ET
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A 6-foot-tall robot that courteously steps aside for people, smiles during conversation and politely asks directions shouldn't be blamed for being too eager to please.
After all, it's programmed to act that way.
The robot, named GRACE (short for Graduate Robot Attending Conference), will wander a symposium on artificial intelligence that begins this weekend, where it will demonstrate basic human social skills.
It will try to sign in at the registration desk, find a conference room, give a speech and answer questions.
GRACE, a drum-shaped contraption with a digitally animated face that appears on a computer display, is the work of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and elsewhere.
GRACE is the only autonomous machine entered in the mobile robot challenge at the American Association of Artificial Intelligence's National meeting in Edmonton, Alberta.
Other robots will be attending -- some clad in tuxedos and serving hors d'oeuvres -- in an attempt to show off the latest, albeit cumbersome, machines that can move safely and naturally among people.
GRACE was designed by her principally male creators to be female. But in form, at least, she's not much of a woman.
It has no arms or legs. Instead, its barrel-shaped torso, sheathed with sonar panels and black plastic bumper guards, rolls on wheels. GRACE is banished from stairs and escalators.
The robot's feminine attributes are limited to a voice that sounds like an automated telephone operator and a heart-shaped cartoon face, which captivates passers-by with its big blue eyes and high cheekbones.
Sadly, the voice and lips are poorly synched, making GRACE's speech about as authentic as a poorly dubbed foreign film.
On Sunday, a team of nervous designers will watch as GRACE attempts the challenge.
The robot's laser and sonar components are supposed to sense distances and steer GRACE around people. Its camera vision system and speech recognition software is supposed to recognize humans' hand gestures and speech.
And its artificial intelligence ``brain'' is supposed to gather all the information and tell the machine how to react.
Whether GRACE will accomplish all these things without a slip-up -- while acting, well, graceful -- is the question.
``This is so far the hardest thing I've ever done in my career,'' said Robotics engineer Bryn Wolfe, a 17-year industry veteran involved in the project. ``That's why I'm so nervous about it. I wouldn't be nervous if we had it all working.''
CMU computer scientist Reid Simmons, coordinating the GRACE project with help from the Naval Research Laboratory, Swarthmore College, Northwestern University and defense contractor Metrica Inc., gave GRACE a 50 percent chance of completing all her tasks.
Software tests were still being conducted this week and a trial run isn't planned until the start of the convention, he said. When The Associated Press watched a demonstration, the robot was only able to speak after receiving computer text commands. GRACE could not yet reply to spoken questions.
Simmons, who said the robot was made female because he believes women communicate better than men, solicited drama students to teach GRACE how to act like a human so it will make people feel comfortable.
It's a tough task.
``Just think of what a robot would have to do just to answer a question from a person in terms of speech recognition,'' said competition co-chair Holly Yanco. ``Not only that, but people ask questions in different ways.''
GRACE will have relatives at the convention that will lack its autonomy.
Massachusetts-based iRobot Corp.'s CoWorker, whose controllers supervise it over the Internet, will also participate in the mobile challenge. Using streaming video from on-board cameras, the user clicks in the picture to tell the machine where to go, said iRobot's Jim Allard.
The GRACE team got together a year ago to integrate software and hardware that have been developed separately.
While Simmons' work involved getting the robot to find the registration booth, wait in line and register, Alan Schultz of the Naval Research Laboratory has been working on speech recognition.
TRACLab, a division of Metrica, developed the Biclops vision system, which enables the robot to recognize physical gestures.
Wolfe said the system allows GRACE to understand whether a person is pointing to the left or right. The company hopes to market the system as a security system capable of identifying criminals by scanning faces.
Team GRACE isn't consumed with completing the task this year. Members plan to refine the robot in future competitions. The team also hopes to teach the robot to schmooze, by recognizing a person and asking questions.
``Whatever happens it'll be a step forward -- a good start for coming years,'' said Simmons.
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On the Net:
American Association for Artificial Intelligence: http://www.aaai.org
Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science: http://www.cs.cmu.edu
Metrica: http://www.metricanet.com
iRobot: http://www.irobot.com
Begging the question: what do we do with the unskilled, the incapable, and the unable? (Yes, I know, previous technological advances have made more and better jobs. But there are people out there who can't handle flipping burgers, much less anything more complex. They represent a voting bloc, and a potential societal problem.)
ARGH you beat me to it!!!!!!!!!!
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