Introduction

In this tutorial, you can learn the basics of how to communicate with the Furhat system by using the Furhat Proxy, a simple Java client.

Note: Under the hood, the Furhat proxy is connecting to the Furhat using the TCP broker. Advanced users might also be interested in the tutorial on broker using C#.

Note: this tutorial assumes that you:

  • Have a Furhat robot (or a device with Furhat SDK running) with a known IP-address.
  • Have Java development kit (version >1.8) installed.

Downloading and importing the JAR

  1. Download the JAR here.
  2. In your Java project, import the JAR.

Use the Proxy API methods

Create a furhat proxy using FurhatProxy furhat = new FurhatProxy(IP_ADDRESS) and then use the methods like furhat.say("hello there"). See all available methods below:

Command Parameters Description
say String text Makes Furhat speak the input text
gesture String name Makes Furhat do the specific gesture
gestureFromXML String xml Makes Furhat do the gesture as defined by the XML input
gaze double x, double y, double z Makes Furhat gaze at the coordinates
gaze double x, double y, double z, int slack Makes Furhat gaze at the coordinates and modifies the slack (the amount of movement in degrees that Furhat does without moving the head. Default is 60)
gaze double x, double y, double z, String mode { "eyes", "head" } Makes Furhat gaze with either only eyes or only head.
faceParam String name, Double Value Set a face parameter

Send custom events

In addition to the above methods, you can also send any custom event by: 1. Defining an event with Event event = new Event("my.event") 2. Add any key-value pair with event.put("key", "value") 3. Using the furhat.send(event) method.

See all system events available here.

Full example using the proxy

try {
            // Connect to the proxy, in this case to localhost
            FurhatProxy furhat = new FurhatProxy("127.0.0.1");

            // Methods available through API
            furhat.say("Hi, I am a speaking robot");
            furhat.gaze(1, 0, 1);
            furhat.gesture("smile");

            // Send a custom event
            Event event = new Event("my.custom.event");
            event.put("key", "value");
            furhat.send(event);

        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }