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When machines
speak to people
RoboThespian: fascinating interaction
Captivating the crowds with every appearance:
RoboThespian is entertaining his
public around the globe with his surprisingly lifelike ways. He greets visitors to NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center in Florida, provides information at the Phaeno Science Centre in
Wolfsburg and interacts with visitors to Australia’s National Science and Technology
Centre, Questacon – and he has even made it to the front page of the New York Times.
To make his movements seem as natural as possible, the ‘robot actor’ is equipped with
ultra-modern fluidic muscles and piezo valve technology from Festo.
P
eople enjoy engaging with this hu-
manoid robot – and RoboThespian
enjoys “reaching out” to people
too. He was invented and devel-
oped in the UK, by Engineered Arts Limited
in Penryn, Cornwall, which is also where he
is manufactured. RoboThespian is 1.75 m
tall and weighs around 33 kg. His chassis
is made from aluminium, and his body
shell from plastic. He is brought to life by
a total of 30 motion axes which are all con-
trolled by an integrated computer; this is
what makes him move his head, arms and
hands in an incredibly lifelike way. Finally,
he interacts and communicates with the
people he meets via a touchscreen.
Intelligent actor
Depending on the programming and tech-
nical equipment, RoboThespian can even
converse actively with people. This clever
droid speaks several languages and
recognises faces and gestures. There are
now more than 60 of these robots cap
tivating visitors to museums, universities
and companies around the world, either
in shows, as part of exhibitions or to
greet company customers. Universities in
Great Britain and the USA are using them
to study human-robot interaction (HRI).
The first version of RoboThespian was
designed in 2005 specifically to communi-
cate and interact with the public. His name
speaks volumes: “thespian” is an old
English term for an actor.
A keyword is all it takes
When the robot’s human counterpart says
specific keywords, RoboThespian gives
pre-defined responses thanks to his abil
ity for speech interaction. For precise
answers and instructions he can also use
search machines independently and
find information on the Internet. If he is
controlled by a person using a wireless
headset and tablet, he can even speak
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trends in automation
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