What Can Actors Teach Robots About Interaction?

In social interactions, the appropriate timing of physical actions is of vital importance. Otherwise appropriate actions performed at the wrong time can completely alter their perceived meaning. In this paper, we propose an approach to developing a physical vocabulary for human-robot interaction that uses trained actors as models of appropriate timing and gestures. We describe out initial work with robots in the performing arts, and discuss how this led us to our current approach, and why we believe that it will succeed in improving human-robot interaction.