Walking in the uncanny valley: importance of the attractiveness on the acceptance of a robot as a working partner

The Uncanny valley hypothesis, which tells us that almost-human characteristics in a robot or a device could cause uneasiness in human observers, is an important research theme in the Human Robot Interaction (HRI) field. Yet, that phenomenon is still not well-understood. Many have investigated the external design of humanoid robot faces and bodies but only a few studies have focused on the influence of robot movements on our perception and feelings of the Uncanny valley. Moreover, no research has investigated the possible relation between our uneasiness feeling and whether or not we would accept robots having a job in an office, a hospital or elsewhere. To better understand the Uncanny valley, we explore several factors which might have an influence on our perception of robots, be it related to the subjects, such as culture or attitude toward robots, or related to the robot such as emotions and emotional intensity displayed in its motion. We asked 69 subjects (N = 69) to rate the motions of a humanoid robot (Perceived Humanity, Eeriness, and Attractiveness) and state where they would rather see the robot performing a task. Our results suggest that, among the factors we chose to test, the attitude toward robots is the main influence on the perception of the robot related to the Uncanny valley. Robot occupation acceptability was affected only by Attractiveness, mitigating any Uncanny valley effect. We discuss the implications of these findings for the Uncanny valley and the acceptability of a robotic worker in our society

Master of Science

thesisAdvances in the field of robotics have laid a solid foundation for human-robot-interaction research; this research values demonstrations of emotional competence from robotic systems and herein lie opportunities for progress within the therapeutic industry, creation of companion robots, and integration of robotics among everyday households. The development of emotive expression within robotics is progressing at a fair pace; however, there is next to no research on this form of expression as it pertains to a robot's manner of walking. The work presented here proves that it is possible for robots to walk with the capability of expressing emotions that are identifiable by their human counterparts. This hypothesis is explored utilizing a four-legged robot in simulation and reality, and the details necessary for this application are presented in this work. This quadruped is comprised of four manipulators each consisting of seven degrees of freedom. The inverse kinematics and dynamics are solved for each leg with closed form solutions that incorporate the inverse of Euler's finite rotation formula. With the kinematics solved, the robot utilizes a central pattern generator to create a neutral gait and balances with an augmented center of pressure that closely resembles the zero moment point algorithm. Independent of the kinematics, a method of generating poses that represent the emotions: happy, sad, angry, and fearful, is presented. This work also details how to overlay poses atop a gait to transform the neutral gait into an emotive walking style. In addition to laying the framework for developing the emotive walking styles, an evaluation of the presented gaits is detailed. Two IRB approved studies were performed independently of each other. The first study took feedback from subjects regarding ways to make the emotive gaits more compelling and applied them to the initial poses. The second study evaluated the effectiveness of the final gaits, with improved poses, and proves that emotive walking patterns were created; walking patterns that will be suitable for emotional acuity