Robotic Interfaces

Introduction:
Robotic interface, simply put, is a gateway between a person and a robotic product. These interfaces could be as simple as an automated voice system over telephones to as sophisticated as an actual human-like robot.

Humanoid Interfaces
An entertainment robot like Sony Giro provides various interfaces for HCI, such as voice, tactile sensation and vision. This allows it to interact with human in a natural way (for example, a person might "order" Qrio to salute by voice). The follow video about Qrio talking with kids demonstrates its highly humanoid interface:

Importance of Reliable Robotic Interface Design
When it comes to industrial and military applications, pleasure becomes less of an importance. In these systems, safety, reliability and efficiency become the paramount. Robotic interface designers have to be extremely cautious. The famous silicon valley CX30 "killer robot" case shows the importance of correct design of robotic interfaces.

Robotic Interfaces Used in Daily Life
Robotic devices have been used to help severely disabled personals. Physicist Stephen Hawking has been able to move and speak after developing and being almost completely paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), with the help of his specially designed wheelchair, which is essentially a robot.

Stephen Hawking now relied on his cheek to control the wheelchair and the voice synthesizer mounted, which turned out inefficient. During a TED conference talk, it took him 7 minutes to answer a question.

A Possible Future of Robotic Interfaces
One of the research direction for robotic interfaces is brain-robotic interfaces, which aims at interaction with robotic products directly by human brain waves. This allows intuitive interaction and manipulation of robotic products. Although still far off, such technology may become reality someday and completely change our everyday life.

Conclusion
Robotic interfaces, seemingly remote, is already part of our life. Widely used in industrial, commercial and medical applications, it slows changes the way we live and perceive the world. The future of robotic interfaces, will focus on natural (humanoid) and intuitive interaction, to be realized through lower-level human functions such as voice, gesture and even brain waves.

References:

Robotic Interface, http://www2.mse.vt.edu/inamm/RoboticInterface/tabid/864/Default.aspx
Stephen Hawking, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking
The Future of User Interfaces, http://sixrevisions.com/user-interface/the-future-of-user-interfaces/
The 'Killer Robot' Interface, Horace Gritty, http://ethics.csc.ncsu.edu/risks/safety/killer_robot/killer_news5.html