PhD Seminar Series, 8 November 2023
This week’s PhD Seminar will be a live robot demo and research test of GUA.
GUA is a robotic animal. She has keen perception and can feel stimuli in many environments including sound, light, temperature, air pressure, touch and distance. She has her own consciousness and judgment. Under these stimuli, she It’s okay to react based on how you feel. – Not always gentle and friendly, depending on your attitude, or her personal taste.
In this test, there will be a short-term multi-person test and a long-term single-person test. Participants are selected based on their own interests (all may participate). Participants will meet with the GUA in a specific test room and interact with the GUA in an in-depth or distant manner based on their interests, but this does not include violent kicking or dismantling of electronic parts. Touching and hugging are allowed, changing the light in the environment, and making sounds are all legitimate interactions.
Ink Yijie Gao is a PhD researcher at the University of Southampton. She is the winner of the MLH Best Hardware Hack prize in the February 2021 Highfield Hack competition. Ink (and GUA) aims to address the benefits of pet ownership for humans, articulating the qualities and behaviours of a real-life pet. Ink’s description of this fantastic and thoughtful project can be found here, including the original inspiration as well as the outcomes of the team’s creativity.