Communication Robots in the Network Robot Framework

This paper discusses communication robots as next-generation media of communication. The "Network Robots", a new framework for integrating ubiquitous network and robot technologies, is a step towards providing infrastructure to make robots into communication media. Based on this framework, communication robots have come into greater use by being networked with humans, cell-phones and ubiquitous sensors (cameras, tags, wearable computers, etc.). This paper introduces the communication robots developed at ATR. Three kinds of field experiments at elementary school, at a science museum, and a Japanese comedy conversation by two robots, called "Robot Manzai" are also introduced. The results of field experiments indicate the potential of network robots as communication media