Magic Cards: A Paper Tag Interface for Implicit Robot Control Shengdong ZhaoTakeo IgarashiKoichi NakamuraKentaro Ishii JST ERATO

Average Time on Housework Per Week Source: National Survey of Families and Households

Domestic Robots can Help, but … Technology: Robots technologies are not well defined, and may change often. User: Housewives and elderly are afraid of technologies Environment: Robots may disturb the comfort of our home

Domestic Robots can Help, but … Technology: Robots technologies are not well defined, and may change often. User: Housewives and elderly are afraid of technologies Environment: Robots may disturb the comfort of our home

Domestic Robots can Help, but … Technology: Robots technologies are not well defined, and may change often. User: Housewives and elderly are afraid of technologies Environment: Robots may disturb the comfort of our home

Domestic Robots can Help, but … Technology: Robots technologies are not well defined, and may change often. User: Housewives and elderly are afraid of technologies Environment: Robots may disturb the comfort of our home

Domestic Robots can Help, but … Technology: Robots technologies are not well defined, and may change often. User: Housewives and elderly are afraid of technologies Environment: Robots may disturb the comfort of our home 1 2 3

1. Frequent Change of Robot Technology Principle of Information Hiding –Hiding "difficult design decisions or design decisions which are likely to change“ (David Parnas, 1972) Housework tasks Robot technology (Long history relatively stable) (Change frequently) Interface Human users

1. Frequent Change of Robot Technology Principle of Information Hiding –Hiding "difficult design decisions or design decisions which are likely to change“ (David Parnas, 1972) Housework tasks Robot technology Interface Human users Solution: Only expose “tasks” to users

2. Fear of Learning New Technology Everyday Objects (Such as Paper Cards) Solution: Interact with everyday objects New Technology ? ? ?

3. Possible Disturbance at Home The Elves and the Shoemaker (Fairy Tales, by the Grimm Brothers) Oyster Girl (A Chinese Fairy Tale) Solution: Use asynchronous interaction

Magic Cards Video Guest Star: C3PO

The Robot Housework System Human users Magic Cards Interface Sensors and Processing System Robot Housework System

computer cameras 5m 4m robotscomputer Vision-based Environment

Robots Used

The Robot Housework System Human users Magic Cards Interface Sensors and Processing System Robot Housework System

The Magic Cards Interface Magic Cards is a very simple tangible programming interface for housework planning using paper cards.

The Magic Cards Interface Magic Cards is a very simple tangible programming interface for housework planning using paper cards.

Grammar of the Magic Cards Task Planning Language C3PO cleans the dishes at noon.

Grammar of the Magic Cards Task Planning Language C3PO cleans the dishes at noon. subject + verb + object + modifiers The dishes need to be cleaned at noon. object + verb + modifiers

Grammar of the Magic Cards Task Planning Language The dishes need to be cleaned at noon. object + verb + modifiers Action tagsObject tagsModifier tags

Object Tags

Action Tags VacuumMopDeliver Wash dishes Wash clothes Avoid … Ideally include all types of house work tasks

Supported Action Tags VacuumMopDeliverAvoid

Action Tags: Vacuum, Mop, Avoid Vacuum Mop Avoid

Action Tags: One to One Delivery

Action Tags: Many to One Deliver

Action Tags: One to Many Delivery Trash bin Door

Modifier Tags Time Tags Order Tags

Routine Tasks 1. Move the sofa away 2. Vacuum underneath 3. Move the sofa back

Routine Tasks 1. Move the sofa away 2. Vacuum underneath 3. Move the sofa back

Routine Tasks 1. Move the sofa away 2. Vacuum underneath 3. Move the sofa back

Routine Tasks 1. Move the sofa away 2. Vacuum underneath 3. Move the sofa back 1 1

Routine Tasks 1. Move the sofa away 2. Vacuum underneath 3. Move the sofa back 1 1 2

Routine Tasks 1. Move the sofa away 2. Vacuum underneath 3. Move the sofa back

Compound Tasks Define a function: CompoundTask C 1 (object) { Move object away; Vacuum underneath; Move object back; } Use it sometime later: C 1 (anotherObject); Challenge: How to incorporate this concept into Magic Cards so that non-tech-savvy people can program compound tasks?

Special Purpose Tags: Compound Task Tag

Clean underneath

Evaluations 1. Iterative design of the Magic Cards interface 2. User study of both the Magic Cards interface and the prototype system

Iterative Design of Magic Cards Goal –understand users –receive initial feedback on design concepts –refine paper-tag interface Approach –6 participants, 2 hrs per person (1 male, 5 females, age range 21-64, mean 35.8) –Semi-structured interviews Iterations

Action Tags Time Tags Modifier Tags Order Tags Special Purpose and Object Tags

User Study Goal –Test the “Magic Cards” interface and the prototype system Approach –Participants: 8 participants, 2 hrs per person (all females, 21-52, mean 31.5) –Procedure: 1.Questionnaire 2.Paper-tag evaluation 3.Task scenarios in simulated environment

Positive Results and Feedback 6/8 interpret all tags correctly Short task planning time (within minutes) Magic Cards is easy to understand and use –e.g., a 52 year-old lady who self-describe as being afraid of “any buttons” highly praised the simplicity of the interface

Concerns and Suggestions Design for young children –Child safe –Collect cards after planning All-encompassing robots preferred for small home Privacy and aesthetics issues of sensors –Sensors on robots instead of in the environment?

Conclusion Introduced an alternative HRI design approach by focusing on “tasks” Designed the Magic Cards interface Developed a prototype system to support interaction with the Magic Cards interface

Future Work Extend the Magic Cards interface with more actions and modifiers tags Improve the sensor and system technologies Use more advanced robots Wash dishes Wash clothes …

Acknowledgments Minghui Sun, Yoshiki Takeoka, Sorahiko Nukatani, Tak Miyake, Zoey Yu, Yotam Gingold, Koji Yatani, Daisuke Sakamoto JST ERATO: (Many openings for post-docs and interns!) User study participants Anonymous reviewers

End

More about Using Paper Tags Benefits –Tangible everyday objects –Instant visibility and feedback –Direct interaction in context Limitations –Require more physical effort –Difficult to control remotely –More difficult to modify than virtual objects Clean Table

Task Description Language C3PO cleans the dishes at noon.

Task Description Language C3PO cleans the dishes at noon. The dishes need to be cleaned at noon.