Robotic social interaction

A robot comprising:

• a sensor module configured to collect sensor data characterizing a physical environment;
• a mobility apparatus configured to traverse the physical environment;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• determine a first path from a first location in the physical environment to a second location in the physical environment;
• instruct the mobility apparatus to traverse the physical environment along the first path;
• identify a human located within the physical environment;
• identify a role associated with the human;
• determine a communication mode for communicating with the human based on the identified role;
• determine a second path through the physical environment, the human being predicted to traverse the second path in the future based on the identified role;
• determine a first one or more future predicted distances between the human and the robot were the robot to follow the first path and were the human to follow the second path;
• determine that a first predicted distance of the first one or more future predicted distances falls below a designated threshold;
• determine via the processor a third path through the physical environment, the third path ending at the second location, the third path being determined based on the second path so that a second one or more future predicted distances between the human and the robot were the robot to follow the first path and were the human to follow the second path each exceed the designated threshold;
• instruct the mobility apparatus to update the traversal of the physical environment from the first path to the third path;
• and
• present a visual cue indicating a navigational goal for the robot based on the third path and the communication mode.

One or more non-transitory machine readable media having instructions stored thereon for performing a method, the method comprising:

• autonomously traversing a physical environment along a first path from a first location to a second location via a mobility apparatus, the first path determined based on sensor data collected from a sensor module at the robot, the sensor data characterizing the physical environment;
• autonomously identifying via a processor a human located within the physical environment;
• identifying a role associated with the human;
• determining a communication mode for communicating with the human based on the identified role;
• autonomously determining via the processor a second path through the physical environment, the human being predicted to traverse the second path in the future based on the identified role;
• autonomously determining a first one or more future predicted distances between the human and the robot were the robot to follow the first path and were the human to follow the second path;
• autonomously determining via the processor that a first predicted distance of the first one or more future predicted distances falls below a designated threshold;
• autonomously determining via the processor a third path through the physical environment, the third path ending at the second location, the third path being determined based on the second path so that a second one or more future predicted distances between the human and the robot were the robot to follow the first path and were the human to follow the second path each exceed the designated threshold;
• autonomously updating the traversal of the physical environment from the first path to the third path;
• and
• presenting a visual cue indicating a navigational goal for the robot based on the third path and the communication mode.