Facilitating a preparatory stage of real-world experiments in a humanoid robot assisted English language teaching using Gazebo simulator

A simulator is a software application that allows imitating an experimental environment and controlling a process or an instrument. Projects in human-robot interaction (HRI) field face different challenges during real world experiments, which include improper robot behavior, mistakes in an algorithm logic, software and hardware failures, and generic lay participants on a user side. Simulators could help to avoid a number of problems that researchers would definitely face within real world experiments at algorithms’ testing stage. This study presents an experimental validation in Gazebo simulator and real-world experiments for English language lessons scenarios with a small size humanoid Robotis DARwin OP2. We investigated advantages of using Gazebo simulator in constructing modular generic HRI blocks and global HRI scenarios in order to optimize a humanoid robot assisted process of studying English. The simulator saved a significant amount of efforts and time at preparatory stages, allowing robot programmers and HRI developers to obtain a quick feedback from users and their requirements for necessary adjustments.