PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Integrating the components described in the previous articles of this chapter, we introduce the Bielefeld “Curious Robot”, which is able to acquire new knowledge and skills in direct human-robot interaction. This paper focuses on the cognitive architecture of the overall system. We propose to combine (i) a communication layer based on a generic, human-accessible XML data format, (ii) multiple low-level sensor and control processes publishing their sensor information into the system and receiving commands or parameterizations from higher-level deliberative processes, and (iii) high-level coordination processes based on hierarchical state machines. The efficiency of the proposed approach is shown in an interactive tutoring scenario, where the Bielefeld “Curious Robot”, a bimanual robot system, should learn to identify, grasp, and clean various everyday objects from a table. The capability of the system to interact with lay persons is proven in a user study.