Related papers: An implementation of an imitation game with ASD ch…

Imaginative play is an area of creativity that could allow robots to engage with the world around them in a much more personified way. Imaginary play can be seen as taking real objects and locations and using them as imaginary objects and…

Imitation learning is an effective approach for autonomous systems to acquire control policies when an explicit reward function is unavailable, using supervision provided as demonstrations from an expert, typically a human operator.…

We explore whether surgical manipulation tasks can be learned on the da Vinci robot via imitation learning. However, the da Vinci system presents unique challenges which hinder straight-forward implementation of imitation learning. Notably,…

Programming robots to perform complex tasks is often difficult and time consuming, requiring expert knowledge and skills in robot software and sometimes hardware. Imitation learning is a method for training robots to perform tasks by…

Speech processing techniques are useful for analyzing speech and language development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who are often varied and delayed in acquiring these skills. Early identification and intervention are…

This work explores a group learning scenario with an autonomous empathic robot. We address two research questions: (1) Can an autonomous robot designed with empathic competencies foster collaborative learning in a group context? (2) Can an…

Learning goal conditioned control in the real world is a challenging open problem in robotics. Reinforcement learning systems have the potential to learn autonomously via trial-and-error, but in practice the costs of manual reward design,…

This article introduces "Baby Robot", a robot aiming to improve motor skills of babies and toddlers. Authors developed a car-like toy that moves autonomously using reinforcement learning and computer vision techniques. The robot behaviour…

We present a Research-through-Design case study of the design and development of an intimate-space tangible device perhaps best understood as a socially assistive robot, aimed at scaffolding children's efforts at emotional regulation. This…

In this paper, we discuss a framework for teaching bimanual manipulation tasks by imitation. To this end, we present a system and algorithms for learning compliant and contact-rich robot behavior from human demonstrations. The presented…

Even with impressive advances in application-specific models, we still lack knowledge about how to build a model that can learn in a human-like way and do multiple tasks. To learn in a human-like way, we need to provide a diverse experience…

Training robots to perceive, act and communicate using multiple modalities still represents a challenging problem, particularly if robots are expected to learn efficiently from small sets of example interactions. We describe a learning…

The objective of many real-world tasks is complex and difficult to procedurally specify. This makes it necessary to use reward or imitation learning algorithms to infer a reward or policy directly from human data. Existing benchmarks for…

In this paper, the application of imitation learning in caregiving robotics is explored, aiming at addressing the increasing demand for automated assistance in caring for the elderly and disabled. Leveraging advancements in deep learning…

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the use of robotic technology at home. A number of service robots appeared on the market, supporting customers in the execution of everyday tasks. Roughly at the same time, consumer…

The mechanisms of infant development are far from understood. Learning about one's own body is likely a foundation for subsequent development. Here we look specifically at the problem of how spontaneous touches to the body in early infancy…

What nonverbal behaviors should a robot respond to? Understanding how children-both neurotypical and autistic-engage with embodied artificial agents is critical for developing inclusive and socially interactive systems. In this paper, we…

The game industry is moving into an era where old-style game engines are being replaced by re-engineered systems with embedded machine learning technologies for the operation, analysis and understanding of game play. In this paper, we…

Numerous children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) exhibit abnormal eye gaze pattern in communication and social interaction. Due to the high cost of ASD interventions and a shortage of professional therapists, researchers have…

This paper presents a technical approach to robot learning of motor skills which combines active intrinsically motivated learning with imitation learning. Our architecture, called SGIM-D, allows efficient learning of high-dimensional…