Frequently Asked Questions:

Q. What is Social Robotics?

Social robotics considers robots to be very useful tools for studying social abilities in humans. Within the field of social robotics, scientists use robots as testing platforms for theoretical models of human cognitive abilities. If a model is applied to a physical robot - one that is interacting directly with the real world - we are able to learn a great deal about the strengths and potential flaws of the model. By utilizing such a process, we hope to learn more about how the human mind works.

Q. What is Social Robotics good for?

Social Robotics has many applications. Because the work involves exploration into how humans communicate and solve problems, social robotics offers insight into many domains including interface design, psychology, and neuroscience. Currently at the lab, we are studying many aspects of social interaction including gesture recognition, face detection and recognition, and prosody. Our work also overlaps with the study of autism: a developmental disorder widely thought to be characterized by the impairment of some social abilities.

Q. Why is the study of autism important to the Yale Social Robotics Lab?

Autism is considered to be a social disorder and is thought to affect certain social areas of the brain. By studying individuals with autism, we may be able to learn more about what it means to be social and what factors are important for normal social interactions.

Q. (New) What can your robot Nico do?

Nico is a "platform" for research -- we run programs designed to answer specific research questions, but usually not more than a few at one time. Previous experiments have included implementations of learning to point at things, learning to reach, self-recognition, learning to follow gaze direction, learning the meanings of pronouns and prepositions, and using tone of voice to guide learning. Usually we try to simplify the environment and the software being run as much as possible for each experiment, so that we can understand the results better and figure out where errors come from when they occur.

Q. (New) I heard that your robot Nico can diagnose autism. Is that true?

No. While we do have a pair of robots called Esra and Ears that we use to study autistic children's reactions to social cues, they do not in themselves diagnose autism. Nico is not currently involved with any studies that directly involve autistic children.

Q. (New) I read that your robot Nico is self-aware! Is this a step toward robot consciousness?

Though fiction often portrays "self-awareness" or "consciousness" as a single giant leap of intelligence and empathy, study of the human brain suggests that intelligence is much more modular than this, with different parts of the brain running many different "programs." When we run certain programs on Nico, Nico can find things in the environment over which it has motor control, including the mirror reflection of its arm. But this doesn't necessarily translate into general intelligence; in fact, we would argue that self-recognition isn't a very general test of intelligence at all, because it looks like it only requires a few specific "programs."

Q. (New) Can Nico pass the "mirror test"?

No. The full "mirror test" requires that a mark be placed on the animal while it is unconscious; the animal must then discover the mark by using a mirror, and then show some evidence of being aware that the mark is on its own body, such as reaching for the unreflected mark. Nico can identify a mirror-reflected arm as its own, but we haven't implemented any software that allows it to build an expectation of its appearance, or that gives it flexible enough motor control to reach for such a mark. We suspect, however, that these other aspects of the test could be handled through standard machine learning techniques.

Q. (New) So what does the mirror test mean, and why did you do these mirror self-recognition experiments?

It's not really clear what the mirror test proves. It's interesting that some of the smartest animals around seem to be able to recognize themselves in the mirror, but that doesn't necessarily mean that passing the mirror test means you're smart. It's interesting that the species that pass it appear to all have some social capabilities -- but then again, they share many other features as well. We performed the experiment partly to figure out what some of the challenges are in self-recognition, and how these are best overcome. We learned that the problem can be solved through a combination of: taking into account the full observation histories of particular entities; noticing the cause-and-effect relationship between deciding to move a body part and seeing the thing move; and comparing the likelihood of the "self" hypothesis to the likelihood that the image is actually somebody else. This is an interesting array of abilities, but they don't really encompass the diverse behaviors and strategies that make up intelligence in general. We wouldn't argue that the animals that "pass" the mirror test are unintelligent; just that the mirror test is a fairly arbitrary dividing line.

Q. Where do the lab’s human-robot interaction studies take place?

Our robots interact with children at the Yale Child Study Center, which is located at:

Yale University
Child Study Center
230 South Frontage Rd.
New Haven, CT 06520
(203) – 785 – 2513
Contact Them

Q. Why the Yale Child Study Center?

The main goal of the researchers at the Yale Child Study Center is to learn about the developmental disorder known as autism and how children with autism differ from children without the disorder. By studying autism, members of the Yale Child Study Center hope to provide better diagnostic and treatment tools for individuals with autism.

Q. I have a child with autism and would like them to participate in the studies conducted at the Yale Social Robotics Lab and the Child Study Center. What should I do?

Please contact the Yale Child Study Center for more information:

Yale University
Child Study Center
230 South Frontage Rd.
New Haven, CT 06520
(203) – 785 – 2513

Q. (Updated) What sensors do the robots use?

Nico uses up to four cameras as its "eyes," consisting of one foveal and one peripheral camera for each "eye;" optical encoders on its motors for motor feedback; two microphones for sound localization and speech recognition; a gyroscope; and a Cricket sensor network for tracking particular people or objects. Esra and Ears do not have sensors themselves; they are operated remotely.

Q. Where is the Yale Social Robotics Lab located?

To see where the Yale Social Robotics Lab is located, go to the Contact page.

Q. There is a swipe slot to the left of the door. When I swipe my card the door doesn’t open. How do I get in?

To access the lab you need to be a member of the lab and have your Yale ID card validated.

Q. (Updated) What computers do you have access to?

Nico usually runs on eleven computers running the QNX operating system, with four dedicated to the motor boards. Occasionally certain software is offloaded onto Windows XP machines communicating with the QNX computers over the network. There are four XP machines in the lab. Esra and VISIT run on a Dell PC in the Yale Child Study Center.

Q. How do I gain access to the archives page?

The archives page is only meant to be used by those who work in the lab. Under the User Name type "lab" then type the password.

Q. How do I contact the lab?

Please visit our Contact page for information on contacting the lab.

Q. If I want to ask more questions, what should I do?

Please visit our Contact page to e-mail us a question.