Professor combines theater and robotics to reflect human connection – The Shorthorn

Julienne Greer, Emotional Robotics Living Lab director and professor of theater arts, social robotics and performance, center, and social robot Nao, right, watch social robot Pepper, left, on March 9at the Emotional Robotics Living Lab. The study on making emotional robots, which was a part of the 2019 UTA Interdisciplinary Research Program, was redesigned to accommodate no face-to-face contact.

Social robots, also known as emotional robots, are machines that can communicate socially with human beings, said Julienne Greer, the Emotional Robotics Living Lab director and professor of theater arts, social robotics and performance.

Greer found a way to bring together her seemingly odd combination of passions, theater and robotics into social robotics.

The Emotional Robotics Living Lab looks at how social robots can reflect the authenticity of human connection and help act as a replacement for the same.

Human beings crave social interaction and connections with others. But with the stringent quarantine and social distancing policies that came with the rise of COVID-19, many have been deprived of these essentials, Greer said.

I have a lifetime of understanding theater, connection and performance and how much human beings want to engage with each other. Not just socially, but emotionally, she said. The thing that really caught my eye was when some of these robots were being branded as emotional robots.

The sense of emotions is a discipline that theater and film are closely interconnected with, but Greer wanted to look at how these areas were connected to robots.

One study they explored in the lab was called Using Arts and Social Sciences to Enhance Social Companion Robots Adaptive Abilities to Improve Health Outcomes and was conducted as part of the 2019 UTA Interdisciplinary Research Program, according to a UTA press release.

Greer pushes a sensor on humanoid social robot Naos hand March 9 at the Emotional Robotics Living Lab. Greer teaches a robots, digital humanities and theater course along with leading the UTA-funded lab.

The study was a collaboration with labs led by Greer, Manfred Huber, professor of computer science and engineering, Kathryn Daniel, associate professor of nursing, and Hunter Ball, assistant professor of psychology.

Kalvry Cooper, recent UTA alumna and former research assistant at the lab, said the study examined how exercise affects older adults cognitive memory using social robots.

The study took place in an assisted-living facility, Greer said. However, they had to completely reframe the study because of COVID-19, as the researchers could not enter the living facility along with their robots, so the older adults were alone with the social robots.

These social machines are produced and programmed to connect with human beings, she said. It can do anything its programmed to do, given the flexibility and mobility of its body.

Social robots are beneficial in treating dementia, according to a study done by Greer and the team for the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

In another study, researchers discovered social robots increased engagement within the caretaker community for young adults with developmental disabilities to help with their respite.

Cooper said the robots can remind patients to take medication, check up on them, look for signs of distress and provide companionship that can emulate a human connection, especially with older adults.

Using a Beam robot, a mobile social robot with an interactive screen, participants were asked to do five exercise sets and given instructions to answer simple questions like their name or how they were feeling after a specific exercise, she said.

After the exercises and questions, they were given a questionnaire to vocalize their experience, Cooper said.

The research assistants recorded positive reactions from the participants.

Social robots can enhance life expectancy and the quality of life. It also makes people feel less lonely by imitating that emotional connections between loved ones like parents and a child or grandparents and grandchildren, she said.

Social robot Pepper demonstrates its motions March 9 in the Emotional Robotics Living Lab. The lab intends to have social robots like Pepper interact with isolated people daily at home and for caretakers.

Yet, Greer said many people feel disturbed and threatened by the idea of technology and robots replacing humans.

Cooper said this can be due to the lack of exposure people have to technology and robots.

Our society is going technological-based, like everything is happening through computers and AI systems, and its getting very techie, she said. Sometimes its not because they dont want to know about tech, its because they dont have someone there.

When asked if robots will replace humans, a humanoid social robot in the emotional robotics living lab named Pepper answered, Im here to serve humans. If there are no humans, there is no me.

Cameron Sullins, UTA alumnus and former research assistant for the study, said most of the older adults in the assisted-living smart apartments who interacted with the social robots felt enthusiastic about being able to work and interact with the robots and excited about their contributions toward the growth of new technology.

While the thought of interacting might feel weird at first, theyre catered to make humans feel comfortable, Sullins said.

[The older adults] know that these robots arent real, but like the connections that they make with [the robots] kind of feels like its real, Cooper said.

These robots make an impression through their colorful personalities, making it easy for humans to build that connection.

When asked why it was named Pepper, the robot responded, I was named Pepper because Im here to spice up your life.

Sullins said with its quirky personality and jokes, most people feel comfortable with social robots like Pepper and can build a connection quickly, differentiating itself from artificial intelligence devices like Alexa or Siri.

I dont think were going to get phones that are cranky or phones that have tiffs, Greer said. I think were going to look at social robots, machines that have a lot more of our personality in them.

The value of why humans connect is significant, and it should apply to robots as well, she said.

People should be open to robots, as they are in societys future and vice versa because humans have the desire to connect, Greer said.

The Emotional Robotics Living Lab at UTA looks at how social robots can reflect the authenticity of human connection and help act as a replacement for the same.

@ayeshahshaji

features-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu

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Professor combines theater and robotics to reflect human connection - The Shorthorn