RoboSapienNet Towards Building A Social Network of Human Beings and Robots

Abstract

Networked robots have shown a lot of promise and research in this area is making quite some headway. On the other end human computer interfaces and networked human societies are also fast evolving. For robots and human beings to exist symbiotically and co-operatively, a need for a heterogeneous network comprising of robots and human beings is envisaged. Such a network must cater to several communication scenarios between its entities viz. human-human, human-robot and robot-robot. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of one such system nicknamed the RoboSapienNet. Based on IEEE 802.11b this network facilitates human beings and robots on the network to interact and assist each other by sharing information. Over many interactions over the network, entities tend to build faith on the other entities that have co-operated constructively with them. The network also facilitates the discovery of the location of other entities in the network.