Social Robot for Interactive Play

Plasse, Noah; Valery, Katrina; Du, Kaley; Jacques, Megan; Caissie, Jayson; Baliestiero, Joseph

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Social Robot for Interactive Play

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Social robots, which are autonomous robots with the ability to connect and communicate with humans, have become prominent in the medical and educational fields, and have even become artificial companions for people in their homes. Within the medical and educational fields, social robots are used to help teach emotional and behavioral skills and help with emotional regulation. Social robots have also become commercially available, such as Jibo; a consumer-oriented robot that forms a relationship with the person or family that “adopts” it. The social robot we have developed, named Tavi, aims to connect with the person who is interacting with them via a 20-questions-style game. The robot has a personality that coordinates the ear positions, arm positions, and facial expressions to convey different emotions to the user. Tavi also has facial tracking to center on the user’s face and uses a game loop to interact with the user. The game is accessible via an application that communicates with the robot, and the robot responds accordingly. Tavi is constructed mostly out of Polylactic Acid (PLA) filament and was 3D-modeled using SOLIDWORKS. Tavi’s software uses Robot Operating System (ROS), C++, and Python to communicate with all the technology within the bot.

This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

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