Study on the Perception of Implicit Indication When Collaborating with an Artificial Agent: Example with the Japanese Rice Cake “Mochi” Making

Body language is an essential component of communication. The amount of unspoken information it transmits during interpersonal interactions is an invaluable complement to simple speech and makes the process smoother and more sustainable. On the contrary, existing approaches to human-robot collaboration and communication are not as intuitive, especially when it comes to robots transmitting information to their users. This is an issue that needs to be addressed if we aim to continue using artificial intelligence and machines to increase our capabilities, or as collaboration partners. The purpose of this study was to analyze the concept of a machine communicating with its user in a manner that closely relates to how humans communicate during collaborative work, using the Japanese rice cake making process as an example. First, the elements necessary to achieve the synchrony of individuals participating in the rice cake making process were clarified. Then, the same elements were reproduced in a simulated environment and applied to a rice cake making situation, this time requiring a collaboration between an individual and a robot. In this seccond step, the robot was made to mimick some key inter-personnal implicit communication elements discovered during the first stage of the study. Results showed an improvement in performance, along with a better capacity to predict and adapt motion according to the other party’s, suggesting that the system was capable of assisting in realizing a certain level of understanding between biological and artificial agents for collaborative work without any form of explicit communication.