Research

• Mentor: Dr. Eekta Jain

• Department: CISE

• Time worked on project: 4 months

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Research Focus:

The goal of this research study is to figure out to what extent robotic animals can compare to real ones. For example, we are trying to figure out if we could ever be as close to robotic animals as we are with actual animals, such as dogs. As a result, we have conducted experiments using a simulation software called Unity and Virtual Reality. In these experiments, we've had the Boston Dynamics Spot Robot Dog stand at various distances from the person wearing the VR headset. We then measured how uncomfortable they were with respect to how intrusive it is on a scale of 1 - 7 and recorded the results. The data taken is shown to the right. In the future, we plan on increasing the amount of participants and having the robot have actual animations of how it would move in real-life.

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Project Responsibilities:

Our responsibilities when conducting research in this area is to be wary of how people feel, and to make sure they are okay with sudden movements in virtual reality. We plan on adding audio as well, so we have to make sure they are okay with the loud sounds coming from the robot dog. Additionally, we must ethically collect data and make sure all data is legitimate.