Contextualized and online parametrization of attention in human–robot explanatory dialog (Project A05)

In Project A05, researchers from the areas of linguistics, psychology, and computer science are investigating attention in human-robot explanatory dialog. They are addressing questions including: where do humans focus their attention when a robot explains a task to them? How can robots direct their counterpart’s attention to achieve the goal of the task? What influence does it have on overall understanding? To investigate these questions, the researchers are assessing attention during an interactive human robot explanatory dialog. The researchers are also aiming to investigate the conditions under which certain linguistic formulations, such as “do X and not Y”, might influence the nature of explanation and understanding. Based on these results, the researchers will then draw conclusions about how robots can understand and direct the attention of their human counterparts and subsequently generate interpretable explanations.