The Six Hug Commandments: Design and Evaluation of a Human-Sized Hugging Robot with Visual and Haptic Perception

Receiving a hug is one of the best ways to feel socially supported, and the lack of social touch can have severe negative effects on an individual's well-being. Based on previous research both within and outside of HRI, we propose six tenets ("commandments") of natural and enjoyable robotic hugging: a hugging robot should be soft, be warm, be human sized, visually perceive its user, adjust its embrace to the user's size and position, and reliably release when the user wants to end the hug. Prior work validated the first two tenets, and the final four are new. We followed all six tenets to create a new robotic platform, HuggieBot 2.0, that has a soft, warm, inflated body (HuggieChest) and uses visual and haptic sensing to deliver closed-loop hugging. We first verified the outward appeal of this platform in comparison to the previous PR2-based HuggieBot 1.0 via an online video-watching study involving 117 users. We then conducted an in-person experiment in which 32 users each exchanged eight hugs with HuggieBot 2.0, experiencing all combinations of visual hug initiation, haptic sizing, and haptic releasing. The results show that adding haptic reactivity definitively improves user perception a hugging robot, largely verifying our four new tenets and illuminating several interesting opportunities for further improvement.Comment: 9 pages, 6 Figures, 2 Tables, ACM/IEEE Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) Conference 202

One Service Robot’s Exploration of Entertainment Methods During COVID-19

The study focuses on how to use entertainment method approach to prompt people with best practices for COVID safety. During COVID times, there have been many robots deployed in public places such as social distancing enforcer or a robot that provide facial masks, but few investigations have been done to assess their interaction design. Prior work in human-robot interaction has shown that varied social strategies can impact whether people comply with robot requests. Additional works have shown that human-human entertainment strategies can be cross-applied to robots seeking particular responses from human audiences. Thus, this work explores ways in which entertainment methods might enable a robot to more effectively distribute hand sanitizer in public spaces on university campus, and how these strategies impact the social environment around that interaction. Over a two week period, the robot initiated 117 interactions with a total of 185 participants (some were in groups). The results shows that the service robot is able to turn the by standard to interaction partners with a careful justification of attentional and relational strategy

Proto-communication,Social Bonding and Persuasiveness for Minimally Designed Robots Scaffolded by Non-Expert Trainers

豊橋技術科学大

Human—Robot companionship: A mixed-methods investigation

In recent years, the arts have brought robots to life in spectacular fashion. In popular fiction we have been presented with machines that can run, leap, fight, and (perhaps most impressively of all) robots which can ascend stairs with absolutely no trouble at all. Amidst these chaotic and often dystopian scenes, we are exposed to moments of humour and lightness – robots can be seen engaging in conversation, cracking jokes, and comforting someone in their time of need. In these relatively mundane moments (as we smile, laugh, and cry) the impression emerges that the robot is something special to the person depicted. Rather than simply being a household appliance, it appears to be something more: a sort of… friend. Returning from the pages and screens of fiction to the real world, we find human society ever more fractured, and the loneliness epidemic at large. Unsurprisingly, given the engaging depictions in popular fiction, the idea of robots for companionship and social support is gaining traction and garnering increasing research attention. In care homes, robot animals can be found cooing and purring in the laps of individuals with dementia, while in schools, friendly humanoid robots may be seen teaching social skills to children with additional needs. What remains unknown, though, is the extent to which people will grow fond of such ‘social robots’ over time, and if so, whether their relationships with these machines might ever resemble (or indeed, replace) those with other humans. Is a ‘robot friend’ the stuff of science-fiction, or could it someday soon become sciencereality? In this thesis, this question is explored from a range of perspectives using a variety of methods spanning lab-based experiments, online surveys, and focus groups. This thesis begins with an introduction to social robots, and an exploration of the background regarding the nature and importance of human social relationships. After introducing relevant theories, I highlight gaps in our understanding of human—robot companionship that I seek to explore through this thesis (Chapter 1). In the subsequent chapters, I present four empirical pieces of work, each offering a unique perspective on the subject. Specifically, in Chapter 2, I report results from a lab-based experiment in which a robot’s lights (located within its shoulders) were programmed to illuminate in a synchronous or asynchronous manner relative to a participant’s heart rate. I aimed to determine whether such a synchrony manipulation might increase prosocial behaviours and improve attitudes towards a social robot - based on prior work showing that experimentally-induced movement synchrony can improve rapport between people, and increase their liking of social robots (Hove & Risen, 2009; Lehmann et al., 2015, Mogan, Fischer & Bulbulia, 2017). Despite demonstrating no positive effect of the light manipulation, this study raises important questions regarding the complexities of defining and measuring attachment to a robot. In Chapter 3, I delve deeper into the qualitative data collected in Chapter 2 to build a more complete appreciation of the value of open questions – particularly in terms of method validation and understanding participants’ internal experiences. After this chapter, I shift perspective from a focus on humanoid robots (and manipulations based on human social behaviours), to human relationships with non-human companion animals. This shift was motivated by my desire to explore how non-human agents form deep and enduring social bonds with humans – as opposed to basing the thesis on human interpersonal relationships alone. Due to the success of dogs as companions, I conducted a study in which dog owners were asked to identify behaviours that they perceived as important to the bond with their dog (Chapter 4). Seven key themes emerged from this research, indicating the importance of attunement, communication, consistency and predictability, physical affection, positivity and enthusiasm, proximity, and shared activities. In the following chapter, I implement a selection of ‘desirable’ dog behaviours within an animal-inspired robot (Chapter 5). By showing the behaviours to members of the general public, and conducting focus groups, I gained deeper insights into the polarising nature of robot animals – not only in terms of how their behaviours are perceived, but also in terms of the roles people think robots should (and should not) hold. In addition to these themes, this final empirical chapter discusses insights regarding the high expectations people place upon robots, as well as public concerns around overdependence on robots, and privacy. By releasing these chapters to the HRI community (through publications or preprints) we sparked conversations within the HRI community – not only about the ethics of robot abuse studies, but also the potential value of qualitative approaches within the field. Our team was commended for publishing qualitative research, in a field heavily dominated by quantitative methods, and we have since been working to continue the conversations around the value of qualitative approaches. Specifically, we hosted the “Enriching HRI Research with Qualitative Methods” workshop at the International Journal on Social Robotics (2020) and launched a “Qualitative Research in HRI/HCI Discussion Group” online - allowing HRI researchers to discuss their work, and share relevant resources (e.g., events and publications). This thesis concludes by detailing work to be done moving forwards, to enhance our understanding of human—robot social relationships, and a broader discussion of our possible future with social robots (Chapter 6). Pulling from various disciplines (including psychology, cognitive science, human—robot interaction (HRI) Studies, robot ethics, and philosophy), this section concludes with consideration of potential consequences of companion technologies – not only for the individual, but perhaps for society as a whole, as we continue to grapple with questions concerning how much of science fiction we wish to welcome into our daily lives

Children’s expressions of gratitude and their relations with parental values and parenting: insights from China and the United States

Gratitude, referring to a dispositional trait to appropriately show gratefulness to a benefactor for a gift or help received (Tudge, Freitas, & O’Brien, 2015), has been viewed as a moral virtue by philosophers and psychologists (e.g., Carr, Morgan, & Gulliford, 2015; McConnell, 1993, 2016). According to Tudge and colleagues, gratitude, as a moral virtue occurs when the beneficiary recognizes that a benefit is freely and intentionally provided by a benefactor, and the beneficiary autonomously repay the benefactor with something that the benefactor wants or needs if an opportunity presents itself. Gratitude, like any virtue, is not innate. Possessing virtuous gratitude requires one to understand the motivation and intentionality behind the benefits, knowing what might be the appropriate responses in a given situation, and to be able to think and act autonomously (Morgan & Gulliford, 2018; Tudge, Freitas, & O’Brien, 2015). To acquire these sociocognitive abilities and experiences, actively engaging in increasingly complex and relevant practices is necessary. Through these practices, one also gradually internalizes standards that are morally required and highly valued by the cultural group to which he/she belongs. Therefore, the development of virtuous gratitude is driven by the synergistic effects of different factors, such as sociocognitive abilities, cultural values, and everyday interactions between parents and children. The purpose of the present study is to have a better understanding of children’s expressions of gratitude and their relations with parental values and parenting in China and the United States. First, the present research investigated the expression of gratitude among 520 Chinese youth (M = 10.60 years, SD = 2.09; 56.0% female) and 489 North American youth (M = 10.28 years, SD = 2.11; 53.8% female). Consistent with what I had expected, Chinese children were less likely to express concrete gratitude, and more likely to express connective gratitude than were the North American children. Additionally, different age-related patterns of expressions of verbal, concrete, and connective gratitude were found. Across societies, older children were more likely to express connective gratitude and less likely to express concrete gratitude than were their younger counterparts. Beyond that, I examined the association between parental values for their children and children’s expressions of gratitude. However, results did not support the hypothesis that parents’ values of autonomy and relatedness would be associated with children’s expressions of connective gratitude. Findings indicated that parental values and gratitude expression were related in different ways in the Chinese and the U.S. sample. Parental values of separateness negatively predicted expression of concrete gratitude among Chinese participants, whereas in the U.S. sample, separated values were negatively associated with connective gratitude. Furthermore, by interviewing 29 North American and 19 Chinese families, I identified strategies that parents used to promote gratitude in China and the United States. In line with what had been predicted, results indicated that both the Chinese and the U.S. parents used various kinds of strategies, including role modeling, discussion about gratitude, and reinforcing gratitude expression behaviors. Moreover, Chinese parents emphasized the importance of expressing gratitude to family and relatives and regarded expressing gratefulness to family members as an effective strategy to foster gratitude in children. Additionally, I explored the relation between children’s expressions of gratitude and their wishes. Consistent with the hypothesis, findings of the present study suggested that children’s social-oriented wishes were significantly associated with connective gratitude for both the Chinese and the U.S. children. Finally, a positive relation between connective gratitude and preferences to give to charity has been found among Chinese children. However, no significant relations between gratitude and spending preferences were found among the North American youth. Findings of the present study provide important educational implications for educators and practitioners aiming to develop effective intervention programs for character development. This study also greatly advances the understanding of the ways in which culture influences the development of virtuous gratitude

Human face and gaze perception is highly context specific and involves bottom-up and top-down neural processing

This review summarizes human perception and processing of face and gaze signals. Face and gaze signals are important means of non-verbal social communication. The review highlights that: (1) some evidence is available suggesting that the perception and processing of facial information starts in the prenatal period; (2) the perception and processing of face identity, expression and gaze direction is highly context specific, the effect of race and culture being a case in point. Culture affects by means of experiential shaping and social categorization the way in which information on face and gaze is collected and perceived; (3) face and gaze processing occurs in the so-called 'social brain'. Accumulating evidence suggests that the processing of facial identity, facial emotional expression and gaze involves two parallel and interacting pathways: a fast and crude subcortical route and a slower cortical pathway. The flow of information is bi-directional and includes bottom-up and top-down processing. The cortical networks particularly include the fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus (STS), intraparietal sulcus, temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex

Conversations on Empathy

In the aftermath of a global pandemic, amidst new and ongoing wars, genocide, inequality, and staggering ecological collapse, some in the public and political arena have argued that we are in desperate need of greater empathy — be this with our neighbours, refugees, war victims, the vulnerable or disappearing animal and plant species. This interdisciplinary volume asks the crucial questions: How does a better understanding of empathy contribute, if at all, to our understanding of others? How is it implicated in the ways we perceive, understand and constitute others as subjects? Conversations on Empathy examines how empathy might be enacted and experienced either as a way to highlight forms of otherness or, instead, to overcome what might otherwise appear to be irreducible differences. It explores the ways in which empathy enables us to understand, imagine and create sameness and otherness in our everyday intersubjective encounters focusing on a varied range of "radical others" – others who are perceived as being dramatically different from oneself. With a focus on the importance of empathy to understand difference, the book contends that the role of empathy is critical, now more than ever, for thinking about local and global challenges of interconnectedness, care and justice

The utilization of group art therapy as a framework to enhance relationship building skills among emotionally disturbed students

Over the past four decades in the United States, the number of students that have been classified as Emotionally Disturbed has increased as well as a rise in these students\u27 aggressive behavior, school violence, and expulsion from their home school districts (Mooney, Epstein, Reid, & Nelson, 2003). Historically, school professionals have employed behavior therapy strategies solely as a method to address students\u27 negative behaviors and improve their overall school experiences (Crow & Small, 2011). These behavior therapy strategies include earning points for improved behavior that lead to school rewards. Although students show improvement after behavior therapy strategies are used, some challenges are noted as well. Students have a tendency to become dependent on earning a reward to change negative behavior, and have difficulty getting along with others (Crow & Small, 2011; Mooney et al., 2003). In previous studies and observations, students with emotional and behavioral difficulties display more positive behaviors when others take the time to build relationships with them. This study sought to incorporate other types of therapy approaches to complement behavior therapy strategies and to help students with emotional and behavioral difficulties increase their positive relationships with others. This mixed methods action research study assessed the impact of a Group Art Therapy program on the relationship-building skills of emotionally disturbed students. Mixed methods approaches were utilized within six cycles of the action research model. These methods included the Piers-Harris 2 Self-Concept Scale, the School Behavior Survey, classroom observations, Group Art Therapy observations, the Life Space Picture, the Kinetic School Drawing, artwork from the group sessions, and student discipline records. Results from the study indicated that although students continued to struggle handling their behavior in conflict situations with others, the students were beginning to display more positive and socially appropriate behaviors after they participated in the Group Art Therapy program. The students who participated in the study demonstrated a greater sense of community with others as well as more positive strategies for handling conflict situations with their peers. The students continued to participate in the Group Art Therapy program beyond the study, and revisions and modifications will be made to this approach in an ongoing basis to help students more easily demonstrate positive classroom behavior and relationships with others