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Wiki source code of Social Robot

Last modified by Vladimir Rullens on 2025/11/09 00:36
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1 For this task we have chosen Miro, the robot dog. While it is a dog, it has been shown that people have greatly enjoyed conversing with it through regular speech: [[https:~~/~~/www.youtube.com/watch?v=quVza0CED5o>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quVza0CED5o]] . Dogs are also a great companion that can provide warmth to their patient.
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4 We went over the robots with the following ideas:
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6 //Pepper is autonomous/can move around and has a tablet
7 Nao can dance, can do general motions as they have arms and legs.
8 Navel has expressions (uncanny valley?)
9 Miro is a dog that can talk //[[https:~~/~~/www.youtube.com/watch?v=quVza0CED5o>>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quVza0CED5o]]
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11 Some of us felt like Navel was too uncanny to feel comforting, leaving it out. Pepper and Nao were both valid options, however, we deemed that Miro would be the most comforting option out of the 4 available, which should also be a benefit to our Human Factor of 'trust'. While Miro is not able to move around, we plan to have a personal robot for each room/person, invalidating the need for complex navigation. Moreover, the robot is small enough to be carried if the patient desires to do so and is able to, but this is not advised.
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14 According to their research paper ([[https:~~/~~/www.researchgate.net/profile/Tony-Prescott/publication/325788257_MiRo_An_Animal-like_Companion_Robot_with_a_Biomimetic_Brain-based_Control_System/links/5b23c635aca272277fb22a5d/MiRo-An-Animal-like-Companion-Robot-with-a-Biomimetic-Brain-based-Control-System.pdf>>https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tony-Prescott/publication/325788257_MiRo_An_Animal-like_Companion_Robot_with_a_Biomimetic_Brain-based_Control_System/links/5b23c635aca272277fb22a5d/MiRo-An-Animal-like-Companion-Robot-with-a-Biomimetic-Brain-based-Control-System.pdf]]), Miro has the following features:
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16 - Fully programmable
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18 - Clearly a robot, yet has an animal-like appearance (dog).
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20 - Moveable parts: nodding+rotating head, moveable hearing ears, blinking eyes, wagging tail.
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22 - Responds to touch - This allows for the "wake up" measure described in AI and ICT, where petting the dog can wake it up. Since we are focusing on dementia patients who are still able to do activities physically, this is considered a viable option. However, it should be kept in mind when extending functionality to patients with physical limitations.
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24 - Layered control architecture: Fast and slow layers.
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26 - Can "operate with bespoke control systems"
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28 - Has built-in exploration and obstacle-detection - However, as per the paper, it does not have built-in navigation: It simply moves to noise, even if it avoids obstacles. In both the care center and at home, Miro is assumed to have a fixed area, namely either a specific house floor, which is universal for these robots, or a specific care center room. As such, the robot is always assumed to be able to access the patient whenever they are in the vicinity, and complex navigation is not required.
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30 - Considering the video, it has text-to-speech.