Learning about wayfinding from a German talking robot
The robot called ACE - for Autonomous City Explorer - was developed at the Technical University of Munich. It was instructed to gather information from pedestrians to allow it to travel from the university to the Marienplatz, about 1.5 kilometers away. First it asked pedestrians if they were willing to help, and if so, asked them to point the way (not speak directions). It then said “thank you.” When it ran into obstacles, it repeated the process. ACE did get to the finish line - some five hours later.
While the novelty of the talking robot may have gotten in the way, researchers suggest these helpful hints on asking for directions:
- ask if people are willing to help
- ask for a specific type of directions - step by step, pointing, map, etc.
- say thank you
