In my research I address the problem of human
interaction with communication robots. Integrating the
range of concerned topics, my attempt is to contribute with
a crossdisciplinary perspective on the social robot.
Therefore, I work on the sitautional components of HRI,
applying sociological concepts of action, behavior, and
communication. As methodological perspective, I make use of
the ethnomethodological approach.
The reciprocal percepience of both partners in an
interaction system is depending on the selection of
parameters which are taken into account. Context-aware
systems enclose the fact of situatedness and embodiment by
the means of reacting to factors from the surroundings, as
perceived images or sound input. Though, these data are not
hard facts but also are interpreted by the addressee. Each
communicative perception therefore can be understood
differently, depending on the relation that the partner
selects. A robot automatically computes the sensor
input and internally distributes this information,
depending on the underlying attention mechanism, speech
processor or object recoginition system. Whereas any human
partner will dynamically attribute a multiple set of
situational and individual factors and adapt to them, with
regard to varying phenomena. Hence the technical
functionality and complexity of the robot's architecture
will influence it's behavior. Moreover the appearance of
the robot effects on it's perceptional signals, furthermore
the embeddedness in the social situation mutually
influences the interaction with the human communication
partner.
