The Huggable companion robot from MIT is designed to be much more than a fun interactive robotic companion. It is designed to function as a team member that is an essential member of a triadic interaction. Therefore, the Huggable is not designed to replace any particular person in a social network, but rather to enhance that human social network. The MIT Media Lab has developed several interfaces for the Huggable: a web interface to enable a remote operator (e.g., educator, grandparent, friend, etc.) to view the state of robot and evoke its behaviors, “stale panorama” interface, and a sympathetic interface that consists of a waldo-like device which maps to the Huggable robot’s body and joint angles. Also watch this episode:
MIT's Huggable Robotic Companion. For more info, go to:
MIT Personal Robots Group.
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