Ghost-in-the-machine

Abstract

We describe the design of the newly developed Ghost-in-the-Machine paradigm and present initial results of an experiment addressing the initiation of service interactions at a bar. For developing policies for a robotic bartender, we investigated which sensor modalities were most informative to humans, and which actions they selected as a socially appropriate response. The results showed that participants used two nonverbal cues for their initial response to a new customer. Those were the distance to the bar and whether the customers' torso was directed to the bar. For acknowledging a new customer, the participants typically responded nonverbally by looking and smiling at the customers. All results can be directly transferred into robotic decision policies.