The R3D3 project combined research in the areas of computer vision, data processing, and spoken language interaction in a real-life context. It also addressed practical challenges in robot development. Inspired by Star Wars’ R2D2, our R3D3 takes the form of a Receptionist Robot that can have an intelligent dialogue with the visitors to a museum, shop or office building. These dialogues are ‘double’ in the sense that the user (or a group of users) interacts with both the robot and a virtual character shown on the screen carried by the robot. The virtual character speaks, while the robot interacts nonverbally through head movements, gaze and emotions.
Besides Human Media Interaction, the other parties involved in the project were the Robotics and Mechatronics group of the University of Twente, VicarVision, Sentient, smartrobot.solutions, the Dutch Police Academy, and NEMO Science Museum.
