Improv for Multi-Robot Theater

Abstract

In recent years, the demand for service robots has been increasing, and communication robots that can interact with humans in various situations such as support for the elderly and improvement of QOL are attracting attention. The research area where robots try to interact with humans according to some scenarios is called "robot theater". heater (a play) is performed for not only entertainment but also education, support for elderly people or people with disabilities, etc. due to its characteristics such as communication, so theater constructed by robots has significance not only in robot science but also in various academic fields. The theater which is performed unplanned or unscripted is called "improv", and it is used in various fields and purposes because the performers have to play while paying attention to other performers and situation. Therefore, incorporating the idea of improv into a robot theater lead to construct a robot theater that has interactivity such as communication between humans and stage theater. In this paper, we propose a robot theater system in which robots act impromptu by changing scenarios, taking into consideration the reaction and state of the audience according to the scene.