Towards Enabling a Robot to Effectively Assist People in Human-Occupied Environments

Over the last decade, we have seen an increasing demand for robots capable of coexisting with people. Enabling robots to operate safely and effectively alongside human partners within unstructured environments poses interesting research challenges that broadly span the field of artificial intelligence. This paper previews some of the challenges that we faced in developing a robot “envoy” that operates for extended periods of time throughout an office-like environment, assisting human occupants with everyday activities that include greeting and escorting guests as well as retrieving and delivering objects. We see three skill areas as critical for the robot to effectively perform these tasks. The first is shared situational awareness—the robot must interpret its environment through a world model that is shared with its human partners. Secondly, the robot should act in a safe, predictable manner and be capable of intuitive interaction with people, through such means as natural language speech. Thirdly, the robot, which we initially treat as a rookie, should efficiently utilize information provided by human partners, requesting assistance when necessary and learning from such assistance to become more competent with time.