Scottish university researchers have developed a new augmented reality tool to ‘teach robots new tricks’.
Academics led by Glasgow university have prototyped a new software system which can overlay a wide range of new virtual behaviours on commercially-available robot pets and toys which are designed to look like animals and mimic their actions.
The system, called Augmenting Zoomorphic Robotics with Affect (AZRA), aims to address the shortcomings of the current generation of these ‘zoomorphic’ robots, which often have very limited options for interactivity.
In the future, AZRA-based systems could enable older robot pets, and even previously non-interactive toys like plush dolls, to provide experiences which are much closer to those provided by real animal companions.
The richer experiences AZRA enables could help provide more pet-like experiences for people who are unable to keep real animals for reasons of health, cost or restrictions on rental properties.
When users of the AZRA system wear augmented reality devices like Meta’s Quest headset around their robot pets and toys, it projects a sophisticated overlay of virtual facial expressions, light, sound and thought bubbles onto the toy’s surfaces and surroundings.
AZRA is underpinned by a sophisticated simulation of emotions based on studies of real animal behaviour. It can make robots seem more convincingly ‘alive’ by imbuing them with moods which fluctuate unpredictably and can be affected by the touch or voice of their owner.
Dr Shaun Macdonald, of the University of Glasgow’s School of Computing Science, is the paper’s lead author and led the development of AZRA. He was initially inspired to develop the system after receiving a less-than-inspiring gift.
He said: “I was given a little robot pet that had a very basic set of movements and potential interactions. It was fun for a few days, but I quickly ended up losing interest because I had seen everything it had to offer.
“I was a bit disappointed to realise that, despite all the major developments in technology over the last 25 years, zoomorphic robots haven’t developed much at all since I was a child. It’s all but impossible to build a relationship with a robot pet in the way you might with a real animal, because they have so few behaviours and they become over-familiar very quickly.
“As a researcher in human-computer interaction, I started to wonder whether I could build a system which could overlay much more complex behaviours and interactions on the toy using augmented reality. Being able to imbue older robots and pets with new life could also help reduce the carbon footprint of unwanted devices by keeping them from landfill for longer.”