MIT researchers and designers are developing
the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) - a new in-car personal
robot that aims to change the way we interact with our car. The project
is a collaboration between the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media
Lab, MIT’s SENSEable City Lab and the Volkswagen Group of America’s
Electronics Research Lab.
“With the ubiquity of sensors and
mobile computers, information about our surroundings is ever abundant.
AIDA embodies a new effort to make sense of these great amounts of
data, harnessing our personal electronic devices as tools for
behavioral support,” comments professor Carlo Ratti, director of the
SENSEable City Lab. “In developing AIDA we asked ourselves how we could
design a system that would offer the same kind of guidance as an
informed and friendly companion.”
AIDA communicates with the
driver through a small robot embedded in the dashboard. "AIDA builds on
our long experience in building sociable robots,” explains professor
Cynthia Breazeal, director of the Personal Robots Group at the MIT
Media Lab. “We are developing AIDA to read the driver's mood from
facial expression and other cues and respond in a socially appropriate
and informative way."
AIDA communicates in a very immediate way:
with the seamlessness of a smile or the blink of an eye. Over time, the
project envisions that a kind of symbiotic relationship develops
between the driver and AIDA, whereby both parties learn from each other
and establish an affective bond.
To identify the set of goals
the driver would like to achieve, AIDA analyses the driver’s mobility
patterns, keeping track of common routes and destinations. AIDA draws
on an understanding of the city beyond what can be seen through the
windshield, incorporating real-time event information and knowledge of
environmental conditions, as well as commercial activity, tourist
attractions, and residential areas.
“When it merges knowledge
about the city with an understanding of the driver’s priorities and
needs, AIDA can make important inferences,” explains Assaf Biderman,
associate director of the SENSEable City Lab. “Within a week AIDA will
have figured out your home and work location. Soon afterwards the
system will be able to direct you to your preferred grocery store,
suggesting a route that avoids a street fair-induced traffic jam. On
the way AIDA might recommend a stop to fill up your tank, upon noticing
that you are getting low on gas," says Biderman. “AIDA can also give
you feedback on your driving, helping you achieve more energy
efficiency and safer behavior.”
AIDA was developed in
partnership with Audi, a premium brand of the Volkswagen Group, and the
Volkswagen Group of America's Electronics Research Lab. The AIDA team
is directed by Professor Cynthia Breazeal, Carlo Ratti, and Assaf
Biderman. The SENSEable City Lab team includes team leader Giusy di
Lorenzo and includes Francisco Pereira, Fabio Pinelli, Pedro Correia, E
Roon Kang, Jennifer Dunnam, and Shaocong Zhou. The Personal Robots
Group's technical and aesthetic team includes Mikey Siegel, Fardad
Faridi and Ryan Wistort as well as videographers Paula Aguilera and
Jonathan Williams. Chuhee Lee and Charles Lee represent the Volkswagen
Group of America’s Electronics Research Lab.
