NB: Since I exited this project, it has been accepted for publication into CHI 2023!
Over the summer of 2021, I was a Research Assistant for the Meaningful Conversations project in the UChicago Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Lab.
The central investigation of this project is based around two related inquiries:
- Can robots be an effective tool for facilitating conversation and connection between two strangers?
- Are robots better faciliators of conversation and connection between two strangers than other alternatives?
Our main tech stack was Python3 running on Ubuntu 18.04 in order to properly interface with the NAO’s APIs. When working on my machine, I mostly used Docker, using an Ubuntu container to run the programs.
(My labmates and NAO doing a test pilot in the lab. Excuse the grainy quality; it was filmed on Zoom…)
Using the NAO6 robot, I ran initial tes pilots for this study in Mindworks , an interactive research space hosted by the Center for Decision Research at the Booth School of Business.
Throughout the summer, I assisted with the development of the initial experimental protocol, field materials, methodology, and I programmed the NAO robot’s teleoperation and scripted interactions with study participants.
I also assisted with testing and refining the technological setup in anticipation of piloting at Mindworks. We tested both in the lab and at Mindworks itself!