# SoftBank Robotics documentation What's new in NAOqi 2.8?

# Interacting with NAO

## Talking with NAO

Prerequisite

Autonomous Life: Activated - Basic Channel: Installed

To chat with NAO:

Step | Action
--- | ---
| Get close enough, and make sure NAO has seen you. NAO will detect your presence if you approach within five feet (1.5 meter). For further details, see: How NAO detects humans.
| Check if NAO is listening, his eyes should be rotating blue. For further details, see: How I know NAO is listening.
| Say a short sentence, in one go. Pauses are interpreted as the end of the sentence, so do not hesitate: speak loud and clear, without hesitation. For further details, see: Basic Channel - What can I say to NAO.

Tips

- What can I say?

  See: Basic Channel - What can I say to NAO.

- NAO says nothing, why?

  If NAO has not understood what you said, he starts listening again.

  ... Repeat louder or try another sentence.

- NAO starts talking before I finished, why?

  Pauses are interpreted as the end of the sentence.

  ... Speak loud and clear, without hesitation.

- NAO doesn’t listen, what can I do?

  ... Get close enough, in front of him, try to catch his gaze.

## Understanding interaction

### How NAO detects humans

NAO tries, as much as possible, to establish and keep eye contact with people around.

To do so, NAO:

Step | Action
--- | ---
A | Looks in the direction of any detected stimulus - sound, movement, touch.
B | Checks if this stimulus may correspond to a human. If a human is detected, NAO‘s eyes turn to pink eyelashes for a moment, and he tries to keep eye contact with him/her, If not, NAO goes back to his previous occupation.

Limits

NAO does not react to new stimulus:

- When processing a stimulus (i.e. checking if it corresponds to a human).

  NAO does not react to other stimuli until he has finished to process the first one.

- When engaged in an Activity or a Dialog.

  When NAO is chatting with a human, he always keeps tracking the human until the human has left.

  When NAO is in the middle of an Activity, all his actions are exclusively defined by the Activity itself.

### How I know NAO is listening

To make sure NAO is listening, check his eye LEDs, and pay attention to the slight “blip” sounds.

#### Eye LEDs feedback

When the eye LEDs are ... | NAO is ...
--- | ---
Blue, rotating | listening.
White with pink eyelashes | seeing a human.
White or pale blue | not listening, the dialog has not started.

#### Sound feedback

Additionally, slight “bilip” sounds can be heard when NAO starts and stops listening:

- when starting listening, the sound is ascending,
- when stopping the sound is descending.

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