Lego Beyond Toys

This master class prepares for a new type of engineering discipline: design and creation of intelligent systems, products, and related services. The class will be a unique opportunity to get familiar with a number of powerful conceptual and intellectual tools to understand and create adaptive behavior at a system level. The context of Lego is chosen because it is already an example of a system. But in this class the creative goal is to make a leap forward, extending the scope of the existing system such that adaptive behavior becomes the central theme. The new Lego should be equally fascinating for grown-ups and children, women and men. Continue reading “Lego Beyond Toys”

Affective Design Course

A true gentlemen is one who is never unintentionally rude. Oscar Wilde

Emotions are important for cognitive processes, decision-making, guiding actions and controlling resources. They play an important role in human-machine interaction since people tend to tread technology as social actors. It is impossible to not communicate emotions, since absence of affect in communication may be perceived as not caring. It is therefore necessary to carefully design the affective communication between humans and artifacts.The interaction cycle consists of first sensing the environment including the affective state of the user. Next, the artifact needs to reason about its own affective state before it can express it and adjust its behavior accordingly. Evaluating the artifact’s affective system is crucial to guarantee successful communication. Continue reading “Affective Design Course”

Tutorial on how to install and run Java on Lego Mindstorms NXT using Eclipse

This tutorial will show you how to install and configure all the software necessary for you to develop Java programs for the LEGO Mindstorms NXT. Java is much more powerful and flexible than the original NXT-G software that LEGO provides. We will be using the Eclipse editor to write the actual Java code and to download this into the NXT. This combination enables you to conveniently write software and to quickly test it on the NXT. Of course there are many other Java editors, but we consider this combination to be particularly convenient. This tutorial focuses on the Windows XP platform, A Mac OS X tutorial is also available. We have two additional steps for Windows Vista. You will work through the following five steps: Continue reading “Tutorial on how to install and run Java on Lego Mindstorms NXT using Eclipse”

eMuu

eMuu is an embodied emotional Robot designed as an interface between the ambient intelligent home and its inhabitants. This project was carried out as a cooperation between Philips Research, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the Advanced Telecommunication Research Institute International (ATR). eMuu is an ongoing project in the Social Robotics track at the Department of Industrial Design at the TU/e. Continue reading “eMuu”

Social Robotics

Robots will play an important role in society. We need to ensure that robots are socially compatible with us in order for society to accept them. Research into the social aspects of human-robot interaction will enable engineers to constructs robots that successfully integrate into our everyday lives. This page summarizes my activities in the field of social robotics.

You may also want to have a look at the International Journal of Social Robotics and the Entertainment Robotics Section of the Entertainment Computing Journal. We are actively involved in these journals and are welcoming contributions.

Research

My research focuses on the social interaction between humans and robots. Therefore my work is closer to the field of artificial intelligence and psychology than electrical or mechanical engineering. You can contribute to the discussion about social robots at the Wikipedia. The following PhD students are or have been associated to this project:

Major projects are:

Robots

For the various studies it was necessary to build robots or to adapt existing robots. We also have some professional photos of the iCat Robot and Nao vs. Aibo.

Cooperations

Cooperation and teamwork with leading robotic institutes and researchers are essential for the success of robotic projects. Please contact me if you would be interested in a cooperation.