Disney Research has been exploring how to improve a robot’s turn-taking behaviour in dynamic multiparty interactions, in order to foster more natural conversation in interactions with guests.
The research team is conducting ongoing work to develop a strong and organic turn-taking behaviour for a social agent to converse with a dynamically shifting group. The project’s main focus is on outlining potential social robot interaction scenarios and how each one could lead to suitable conversational behaviour.
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Improved robot conversation
“For a conversation to be engaging, it is not only important to have something interesting to say – you also need to be able to express it in an appropriate and appealing tone and at the right time,” reads an extract from a paper on the topic by Maike Paetzel-Prusmann and James Kennedy from Disney Research.
“Even as humans, we often struggle with these key aspects: When meeting a stranger, we may find it hard to choose a conversation topic, talk too fast, or unintentionally interrupt them. When more people partake in a conversation, these problems become increasingly challenging as they may have different topical interests, have opposing conversational goals, or compete for attention within the group.
“Artificial characters often still lack even fundamental aspects of appropriate conversational behavior in one-on-one and multi-party settings. Hence, many designers of dialogue systems default to either rule-based solutions that restrict the naturalness of the interaction or leverage a human wizard remote-controlling the robot’s conversational dynamics.”
According to the paper, future work on this AI topic will also involve testing robots with different appearances to see whether the social interaction cues vary.
Last week, Disney showcased a new robot at SXSW in Austin, Texas. During a session titled “Creating Happiness: The Art & Science of Disney Parks Storytelling”, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro unveiled a talking Tinker Bell who can have a conversation with guests in real-time from within her small bell jar.
Images: Disney Research
