Deceptive Robot Motion: Synthesis, Analysis and Experiments

Abstract

Much robotics research explores how robots can clearly communicate true information. Here, we focus on the counterpart: communicating false information, or hiding information altogether – in one word, deception. Robot deception is useful in conveying intentionality, and in making games against the robot more engaging. We study robot deception in goal-directed motion, in which the robot is concealing its actual goal. We present an analysis of deceptive motion, starting with how humans would deceive, moving to a mathematical model that enables the robot to autonomously generate deceptive motion, and ending with a studies on the implications of deceptive motion for human robot interactions and the effects of iterated deception.