Repeating experiments and replicating results are key parts of successful scientific research. But in the field of robotics, working with different software platforms on different machines means that replication can be difficult. A $5 million National Science Foundation project led by Oregon State University aims to help with this challenge by building and distributing 50 standardized robots throughout the research community. The robot’s expressive face and gesturing arms are meant to help researchers study how humans and robots should interact in the workplace and other social environments.

Bill Smart is a professor in OSU’s robotics program and one of the leaders of the project. He joins us to explain how a standardized robot could help accelerate research.