ABSTRACT
The development of robots is entering a new stage, focusing on interaction with people in everyday environments. A robot can act as a peer providing mental, communication, and physical support. This chapter introduces applications of radio frequency identification device (RFID) technologies for communication robots through two field trials with communication robots and active-type RFID tags at an elementary school and a science museum. In the elementary school, communication robots are used for studying English. Two communication robots that had various communicative behaviors interacted with children at an elementary school. Robovie has a software mechanism for performing consistent interactive behaviors. The intention behind the design of Robovie is that it should communicate at a young child’s level. The communication robots autonomously interacted with children by using their humanlike bodies and various sensors such as visual, auditory, tactile sensors, and RFID tag system.
