Demonstration of OPSORO: an Open Platform for Social Robots

Abstract

One of the major obstacles in the study of human- robot interaction with social robots is the lack of platforms to allow for tests with large user groups. Often, the price of these robots prohibits using more than a handful of robots. Another factor is that with commercial platforms, the robots do not possess all the necessary features to perform an experiment and due to the closed nature of the platform, extensive modifications are nearly impossible. To address this problem, a new social robotics platform, OPSORO, is presented. The platform uses an innovative modular system design that enables the creation of different embodiments to represent anthropomorphic robots focusing on face-to-face communication. Our goal is to offer a platform for the development of robotic characters, typically within the context of therapeutics or entertainment. OPSORO is a unique system that provides real personalization of social robots.