Service Robots Dealing with Indirect Speech Acts

Abstract

Successful interaction between a service robot and its human users depends on the robot's ability to understand not only direct commands, but also more indirect ways for a human to express what she would like the robot to do. Such indirect ways are pervasive in human-human interaction; enabling the robot to understand them can make human-robot interaction more human-friendly. This paper presents a model for a robot that pursues its serving duties by trying to interpret indirect ways of expressing requests to execute certain actions. In case of uncertainty about the proper interpretation the robot can ask for clarification and adapt its interpretation for future interactions