A Trip to the Moon: Personalized Animated Movies for Self-reflection

Self-tracking physiological and psychological data poses the challenge of presentation and interpretation. Insightful narratives for self-tracking data can motivate the user towards constructive self-reflection. One powerful form of narrative that engages audience across various culture and age groups is animated movies. We collected a week of self-reported mood and behavior data from each user and created in Unity a personalized animation based on their data. We evaluated the impact of their video in a randomized control trial with a non-personalized animated video as control. We found that personalized videos tend to be more emotionally engaging, encouraging greater and lengthier writing that indicated self-reflection about moods and behaviors, compared to non-personalized control videos

Experimental studies of the interaction between people and virtual humans with a focus on social anxiety

Psychotherapy has been one of the major applications of Virtual Reality technology; examples include fear of flying, heights, spiders, and post‐traumatic stress disorder. Virtual reality has been shown to be useful, in the context of exposure therapy for the treatment of social anxiety, such as fear of public speaking, where the clients learn how to conquer their anxiety through interactions with Virtual Characters (avatars). This thesis is concerned with the interaction between human participants and avatars in a Virtual Environment (VE), with the main focus being on Social Anxiety. It is our hypothesis that interactions between people and avatars can evoke in people behaviours that correspond to their degree of social anxiety or confidence. Moreover the responses of people to avatars will also depend on their degree of exhibited social anxiety – they will react differently to a shy avatar compared to a confident avatar. The research started with an experimental study on the reaction of shy and confident male volunteers to an approach by an attractive and friendly virtual woman in a VE. The results show that the participants responded according to expectations towards the avatar at an emotional, physiological, and behavioural level. The research then studied a particular cue which represents shyness – “blushing”. Experiments were carried out on how participant responds towards a blushing avatar. The results suggested that, even without consciously noticing the avatar’s blushing, the participants had an improved relationship with her when she was blushing. Finally, the research further investigated how people respond towards a shy avatar as opposed to a confident one. The results show that participants gave more positive comments to the personality of the avatar displaying signs of shyness

MODELING THE CONSUMER ACCEPTANCE OF RETAIL SERVICE ROBOTS

This study uses the Computers Are Social Actors (CASA) and domestication theories as the underlying framework of an acceptance model of retail service robots (RSRs). The model illustrates the relationships among facilitators, attitudes toward Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), anxiety toward robots, anticipated service quality, and the acceptance of RSRs. Specifically, the researcher investigates the extent to which the facilitators of usefulness, social capability, the appearance of RSRs, and the attitudes toward HRI affect acceptance and increase the anticipation of service quality. The researcher also tests the inhibiting role of pre-existing anxiety toward robots on the relationship between these facilitators and attitudes toward HRI. The study uses four methodological strategies: (1) incorporating a focus group and personal interviews, (2) using a presentation method of video clip stimuli, (3) empirical data collection and multigroup SEM analyses, and (4) applying three key product categories for the model’s generalization— fashion, technology (mobile phone), and food service (restaurant). The researcher conducts two pretests to check the survey items and to select the video clips. The researcher conducts the main test using an online survey of US consumer panelists (n = 1424) at a marketing agency. The results show that usefulness, social capability, and the appearance of a RSR positively influence the attitudes toward HRI. The attitudes toward HRI predict greater anticipation of service quality and the acceptance of the RSRs. The expected quality of service tends to enhance the acceptance. The relationship between social capability and attitudes toward HRI is weaker when the anxiety toward robots is higher. However, when the anxiety is higher, the relationship between appearance and the attitudes toward HRI is stronger than those with low anxiety. This study contributes to the literature on the CASA and domestication theories and to the human-computer interaction that involves robots or artificial intelligence. By considering social capability, humanness, intelligence, and the appearance of robots, this model of RSR acceptance can provide new insights into the psychological, social, and behavioral principles that guide the commercialization of robots. Further, this acceptance model could help retailers and marketers formulate strategies for effective HRI and RSR adoption in their businesses

Up on cloud canine: things look paw-sitive with a dog around. The benefit of canine assisted intervention on the mental health of higher education students

The concept of good mental health is one that is lacking in students enrolled in Higher Education (HE). Experiencing mental health issues is common for many students and as a result of this they struggle during their time in academia. This thesis presents three studies that investigate the benefits of Canine Assisted Intervention (CAI) on the mental health of HE students. Study 1 demonstrates a 10 minute CAI session reduces anxiety and stress levels in a CAI group in comparison to a control group. Study 2 extends this by showing a reduction in depression alongside anxiety and stress and identified no difference in the impact of CAI on a 2 minute, a 5 minute or a 10 minute session when compared to a control group. Study 2 also demonstrated that the form of interaction between canine and human had no impact on CAI, and that a negative correlation was observed between the cuteness of the canine and anxiety levels, and the cuddliness of the canine and stress levels. Finally, study 3 explored, and found no impact of social interaction on the effectiveness of CAI. Instead, it was the simple act of interacting with a canine that was the contributing factor in reducing anxiety, stress, and depression levels, and in increasing general well-being. In addition, attachment style had no impact on the effects of CAI when taking part in a trio, however when interacting with a canine alone, having a proximity seeking style predicted post-depression levels. Study 3 also demonstrated that when experiencing CAI in pairs, an insecure attachment style predicted post cheerfulness and feeling loved, and both insecure and proximity seeking styles predicted post confidence and relaxation. The findings are important as they demonstrate that the length of CAI (2,5,10 minutes), the level of interaction between canine and human, and social environment have no impact on the effectiveness of CAI. Rather it is simply interacting with a canine that is key to reducing anxiety, stress, and depression levels and in increasing well-being. These results contribute toward CAI being an inexpensive and economical approach for universities hoping to address the mental health issues experienced by students during their time in HE

Support for Language Learners by Designing a Personalized Voice Assistant

This study analyzes the learning experience of studying foreign languages (FLs) and designs a personal voice assistant to support users. Learning FL is a big challenge. The challenge of learning a new language including how language is used is ‘influenced by’ or is a direct result of the context in which communication takes place. The author\u27s self-experience as an international student informs this study and provides access to a broad range of peers at the institution who have similar experiences. On the other hand, by utilizing voice assistant (VA), users build a relationship with VA and learners can understand multiple language backgrounds and cultures. Through in-depth interviews, participants—recruited from campus—were asked questions about why one wants to learn FL, how one learns FL, which tools one used to support learning, the challenges one meets with this experience, etc. This research asks about one’s learning experience and shares the researcher idea with VA utilizing it in supporting learning FL. This study does two sets of interviews with same group participants in order to collect interviewees’ experiences and feedback through the design process. In a sample size of 18 participants, this research understands how culture, background and environment influence FL learners’ experiences during studying a new language. Some interviewees live in foreign places and feel anxious using FL to communicate with native speakers. Some interviewees live in native and want to know more about FL’s different cultures locally. With this study, this author designs a personal voice assistant and supports learners with learning foreign languages

How People’s Perception on Degree of Control Influences Human-Robot Interaction

Automated products that seem to be more sophisticated every day are invading the market. Gmail provides suggestions for emails responses and can even track important dates through emails and send a notification about it without the user's permission. As robot companions are just slowly starting to be available to the public, one must wonder, do people expect robots to have the same technology advancements as other technology tools such as smart phones? Is it really what people want? Some early research on control has been made in the Human Computer Interaction community by Shneiderman & Maes (1997) to discover how much control the user is ready to give up to an intelligent agent. This PhD does the same type of investigations for domestic robots by focussing on perception of control in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). To be able to conduct such an investigation, the user's perception of control is measured through the robot's level of autonomy. As this thesis will show, little research has been done in this area for domestic robot companions. After a first exploratory study was conducted to gain a better understanding of perception of control related to the user's preferred level of autonomy of the robot for a simple task (cleaning), three questionnaire studies have investigated what makes a task high critical or low critical, physical or cognitive. The results could then be used to design a full live investigation on how the level of criticality of a task influence the user's preference of the robot's level of autonomy. The results of this thesis show that in general people want robots to be more autonomous but they still want to have control over the robot for most tasks. People prefer to give instructions to the robot when a cognitive task is performed regardless of the criticality of the task, and for a low critical physical task that is entertainment-based. However, for a high critical physical task, the user prefers the robot to be fully autonomous even if they feel they have less control over the robot. This is explained by the way participants perceived the performance of the task. When the robot was fully autonomous, they felt the task was done faster and smoother than when they had to continuously provide instructions to the robot

Leadership: A critical text

Providing a critical review and analysis of the key debates within leadership, this book challenges the notion of the individual or hero leader. The author develops the idea of leadership as a distributed process between lots of agents in an organization. In doing so he provides a new framework which readers can use to understand and implement this distributed type of leadership. Chapters include vignettes and case studies to support readers' understanding of ideas, and pedagogical features emphasize core learning points

Assessing Graphical Robot Aids for Interactive Co-working

The shift towards more collaborative working between humans and robots increases the need for improved interfaces. Alongside robust measures to ensure safety and task performance, humans need to gain the confidence in robot co-operators to enable true collaboration. This research investigates how graphical signage can support human–robot co-working, with the intention of increased productivity. Participants are required to co-work with a KUKA iiwa lightweight manipulator on a manufacturing task. The three conditions in the experiment differ in the signage presented to the participants – signage relevant to the task, irrelevant to the task, or no signage. A change between three conditions is expected in anxiety and negative attitudes towards robots; error rate; response time; and participants’ complacency, suggested by facial expressions. In addition to understanding how graphical languages can support human–robot co-working, this study provides a basis for further collaborative research to explore human–robot co-working in more detail

Sharing Stress With a Robot: What Would a Robot Say?

With the prevalence of mental health problems today, designing human-robot interaction for mental health intervention is not only possible, but critical. The current experiment examined how three types of robot disclosure (emotional, technical, and by-proxy) affect robot perception and human disclosure behavior during a stress-sharing activity. Emotional robot disclosure resulted in the lowest robot perceived safety. Post-hoc analysis revealed that increased perceived stress predicted reduced human disclosure, user satisfaction, robot likability, and future robot use. Negative attitudes toward robots also predicted reduced intention for future robot use. This work informs on the possible design of robot disclosure, as well as how individual attributes, such as perceived stress, can impact human robot interaction in a mental health context