Patent ID: 8909370

Claim:
An interactive system comprising, in combination: (a) a robot; and (b) an operator interface for accepting input from and displaying output to a remote human operator; in which system (i) the robot includes actuators and movable parts for performing at least one of an affective touch and a social touch; (ii) the robot includes a plurality of sensors for taking sensor measurements selected from the group consisting of a pressure sensor, a proximity sensor, a light sensor and a sound sensor; (iii) the robot is programmed to function in a plurality of modes, the plurality of modes comprising at least two of an autonomous robotic behavior mode, a non-autonomous behavior mode in which actions of the robot are controlled by the remote human operator, and a semi-autonomous behavior mode in which a sequence of actions by a robot are initiated by a command by the remote human operator; and (iv) the input from the remote human operator comprises a selection by the remote human operator of a mode out of the plurality of modes or a selection by the remote human operator of a behavior, out of a set of behaviors by the robot, which set of behaviors by the robot includes at least one of a group consisting of laughing, giggling, crying, and clapping.