Robot Pepper can tell jokes, show sympathy, lean in towards the runner and change eye colour to express emotion.
Scientists have developed a robot personal trainer to coach runners through an exercise programme on the treadmill.
Humanoid robot Pepper can tell jokes, show sympathy, lean in towards the runner and change eye colour to express different emotions.
The support is personalised based on the gym-goer’s heart rate, speed, personality type, mood and fitness level.
Pepper gained its social intelligence by being trained by a human fitness instructor on how to be an encouraging coach.
It learned when to offer praise during a workout and the cues that can motivate a runner to improve performance.
The robot was developed as part of a study led by human-robot interaction experts from Bristol Robotics Laboratory.
As part of the research, 10 people participated in sessions with the robot in a gym at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol).
The group, aged between their 20s and 60s, attended three times per week for three months and were guided through the NHS Couch to 5K programme.
Human-robot interaction expert Katie Winkle said: “We wanted to test if we could transfer the intelligence of our fitness instructor, an expert with the know-how to get the best out of clients, into a robot so it could become an effective personal coach.
“We aimed to create an engaging motivational companion to get our runners through Couch to 5k, which is quite a long and drawn out exercise programme.”
Participants received guidance from two different versions of the robot.
The first was pre-programmed and gave standard instructions every 30 seconds based on the runner’s performance.
The second was a bespoke form of the robot that had been given input from a UWE Bristol fitness instructor.
Pepper observed the fitness instructor motivating runners and replicated his behaviours.
Results showed runners preferred engaging with the socially intelligent, human-like robot and performed better with it.
Miss Winkle said: “Understandably, they weren’t sure what to expect and when they started it was a bit of novelty.
“Some were energised by the robot and pushed themselves more than normal, and our fitness instructor was impressed with what the robot had learned to do.
“As time wore on, the participants began to treat the robot as a companion and the fitness instructor saw the robot as a colleague.
“This is really promising when we think about how robots might be used in the workplace in the future to work alongside humans.”
Researchers say the study was the first of its kind to feature significant participation from a human expert in a field.
The UWE fitness instructor was involved in designing Pepper’s actions, teaching it and then assisting with evaluation.
It is also rare for a research project to involve people interacting with a robot consistently over such a long time, the researchers say.
Dr Severin Lemaignan, senior research fellow at Bristol Robotics Laboratory, said: “Our work shows a robot could be really useful in the gym, especially for people who would perhaps feel embarrassed with a human personal trainer.
“It’s great to see the robot was considered a colleague by our gym coach: the robot helps provide better support to the gym clients; he doesn’t see it as a threat to his role.
“More widely, the study demonstrated the potential for robots to be useful and effective in the real world, with many potential applications.”
Bristol Robotics Laboratory is a collaborative partnership between UWE Bristol and the University of Bristol.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A headless robot about the size of a labrador retriever will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska's second largest airport, a state agency said.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities has named the new robot Aurora and said it will be based at the Fairbanks airport to “enhance and augment safety and operations," the Anchorage Daily News reported.
The transportation department released a video of the robot climbing rocks, going up stairs and doing something akin to dancing while flashing green lights.
Those dancing skills will be put to use this fall during the migratory bird season when Aurora imitates predator-like movements to keep birds and other wildlife from settling near plane infields.
The plan is to have Aurora patrol an outdoor area near the runway every hour in an attempt to prevent harmful encounters between planes and wildlife, said Ryan Marlow, a program manager with the transportation department.
The robot can be disguised as a coyote or a fox by changing out replaceable panels, he said.
“The sole purpose of this is to act as a predator and allow for us to invoke that response in wildlife without having to use other means,” Marlow told legislators last week.
The panels would not be hyper-realistic, and Marlow said the agency decided against using animal fur to make sure Aurora remained waterproof.
The idea of using a robot came after officials rejected a plan to use flying drones spraying a repellent including grape juice.
Previous other deterrent efforts have included officials releasing pigs at a lake near the Anchorage airport in the 1990s, with the hope they would eat waterfowl eggs near plane landing areas.
The test period in Fairbanks will also see how effective of a deterrent Aurora would be with larger animals and to see how moose and bears would respond to the robot, Marlow told the Anchorage newspaper.
Fairbanks “is leading the country with wildlife mitigation through the use of Aurora. Several airports across the country have implemented robots for various tasks such as cleaning, security patrols, and customer service,” agency spokesperson Danielle Tessen said in an email to The Associated Press.
In Alaska, wildlife service teams currently are used to scare birds and other wildlife away from runways with loud sounds, sometimes made with paintball guns.
Last year, there were 92 animal strikes near airports across Alaska, including 10 in Fairbanks, according to an Federal Aviation Administration database.
Most strikes resulted in no damage to the aircraft, but Marlow said the encounters can be expensive and dangerous in the rare instance when a bird is sucked into an engine, potentially causing a crash.
An AWACS jet crashed in 1995 when it hit a flock of geese, killing 24 people at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.
If the test proves successful, Marlow said the agency could send similar robots to smaller airports in Alaska, which could be more cost effective than hiring human deterrent teams.
Aurora, which can be controlled from a table, computer or on an automated schedule, will always have a human handler with it, he said. It can navigate through rain or snow.
The robot from Boston Dynamics cost about $70,000 and was paid for with a federal grant.
Alaska Department of Transportation program manager Ryan Marlow demonstrates the agency's robotic dog in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 26, 2024. The device will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska's second largest airport, the DOT said. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
This illustration provided by the Alaska Department of Transportation in March 2024 depicts what the robot Aurora would look like with a graphic design disguising it as a fox. The device will wear wraps showing it as a fox or coyote as it is tested this fall to move waterfowl and other wildlife away from planes at Fairbanks International Airport. (Ryan Marlow/Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities via AP)
An Alaska Department of Transportation robotic dog walks through snow in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 26, 2024. The device will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska's second largest airport, the DOT said. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
Alaska Department of Transportation program manager Ryan Marlow demonstrates the agency's robotic dog in Anchorage, Alaska, on March 26, 2024. The device will be camouflaged as a coyote or fox to ward off migratory birds and other wildlife at Alaska's second largest airport, the DOT said. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
