Portfolio

 
    
Workshop on Robot Design
 
     - Date: August 27, 2007
     - Time: 09:00 - 11:20
 
1. The HRI Experiment Framework for Designer
 
     Professor, Myungsuk Kim
     Department of Industrial Design, KAIST
 
As various applications of robot technology related to human life increases, research domains for designers include not only appearance design but also interaction design based on an understanding of HRI. Through interaction systems, the level of technology and stability is recognized in a different way from the real elements of robot mechanisms. Therefore, the role of interaction design is very important in the development of robots. Unfortunately, the robotics expertise required to build HRI systems interrupts designers to participate in the HRI design process. Furthermore, the enormous costs and time required to build even a simple moving appliance make it difficult for designers to plan for HRI experimentations.
However, the HRI experiment framework described in this discussion allows designers to create stimulus-response interfaces rapidly. An experiment framework helps with the creation of an initial HRI design strategy, leading to significantly better performance and less effort compared to a perfectly functioning prototype.
 
2. Towards the Design and Development of Future Robotic Products and
    Systems
 
     Professor, Jodi Forlizzi
     HCII and School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University
 
This talk will focus on design as a means to discover and understand the how to best design future robotic products. One important consideration is how to understand the human experience of use of these systems. Robotic products are a class of social products, artifacts, services, and systems that have social meaning and implications for people's social behavior and relationships. In this talk, I will begin with historic examples of products that inspired surprising and unintended social behaviors. I will then focus on robotic products specifically, showing how our research seeks to understand how simple social attributes in robotic products and systems makes them easier to adopt and less stigmatizing. In specific, I will discuss a set of particular design cues ? gaze, motion, and speech and sound, and the concept of personality derived collectively from these primitives ? and discuss how alone and in combination, they might foster the adoption and use of robotic products and systems.
 
3. Robot Designer or Robot Creator
 
     Robot Designer, Tomotaka Takahashi
     ROBO-GARAGE, VBL Kyoto University Yoshidahonmachi
 
A robot is the first machine that can communicate with human beings in machine invention history. Thus, a robot is required to have a friendly appearance and natural motions to make people feel that the robot is lifelike. A humanoid robot is a human friendly interface between humans and machines. Examples include electric appliances, home security systems, computers, and all cyber networks. Robots have the potential to have a great impact to the live of humans. Robot were typically be developed by a researcher for researchers to work inside of a research laboratory. Due to this, robot design is not recognized as an important issue. It is unfortunate that sometimes robot design sketches are drawn as physically impossible by existing industrial designers or animation designers who are not familiar with the internal workings of a robot. After the initial drawing, to create actual robot, these sketches are greatly modified by engineers who are not familiar with design. This process does not work, however. Therefore, it is important to develop the field of “Robot Design”, and to educate specialists, as a “Robot Designer” or “Robot Creator”. Currently, robots are becoming more common as a daily product. Presenting a well-designed robot can grow future consumers of robots. Most researchers want to share their experience; indeed, they are happy to do so.
 
4. Styling in Robot Flatform Design
 
     Professor, Wonsup Kim
     Division of industrial design, Ewha Womans University
 
The process for a robot design project must be improved for the efficient work and development of a creative and optimum alternative. The existing robot design process distinguishes clearly the role of the engineer and the designer. Thus, even if the concurrent engineering method is applied, the opinions of both sides are not reflected fully due to insufficient communications and an absence of integrated design tools. Generally, styling is applied to the final stage of the design process, but the costs and time related to this step could be reduced by applying the engineering process at an earlier stage. In this manner, although styling is closely connected to engineering elements and productivity elements, it is regarded as a secondary element in the engineering process, considering that this is a tool for designers only.
When designing complex robots, mechanical components and styling aspects are closely connected and have an impact on each other. However, when attempting to communicate or suggest optimum solutions in the development process, ineffectiveness exists in dividing the process into mechanical design and styling. The mechanical styling method implements mechanical design and styling simultaneously in the integrated mechanical design process. With this method, an engineer or a designer can consider all the stages from conception to manufacturing. Accordingly, it will be possible to operate effectively, as there will be a decrease in feedback. Moreover, problems can be eliminated during the modeling of data.