The goals of this project are fourfold: (1) develop techniques that will advance the capabilities of robots to interact with humans; (2) increase undergraduate and graduate research interest and opportunities; (3) increase interest in the sciences by pre-college students; (4) increase acceptance by the general public of robots in everyday life. A robot will be constructed and required methodologies developed to produce a robotic entity capable of significant robot/human interaction. The robot will be designed to function primarily as a campus tour guide but will also be used for demonstrations at area high schools and middle schools to achieve the goal of increasing interest in the sciences. The robot will have the capability to respond, in as human like fashion as possible, to humans in which it comes in contact. While touring campus locations, JagBot will be able to "see", "hear" and "speak" when dealing with the tour participants. JagBot will be able to share relevant information with the tour participants, answer questions and slightly modify the tour to satisfy their requests.
