Turing-Test Evaluation of a Mobile Haptic Virtual Reality Kissing Machine

Various communication systems have been developed to integrate the haptic channel in digital communication. Future directions of such haptic technologies are moving towards realistic virtual reality applications and human-robot social interaction. With the digitisation of touch, robots equipped with touch sensors and actuators can communicate with humans on a more emotional and intimate level, such as sharing a hug or kiss just like humans do. This paper presents the design guideline, implementation and evaluations of a novel haptic kissing machine for smart phones - the Kissenger machine. The key novelties and contributions of the paper are: (i) A novel haptic kissing device for mobile phones, which uses dynamic perpendicular force stimulation to transmit realistic sensations of kissing in order to enhance intimacy and emotional connection of digital communication; (ii) Extensive evaluations of the Kissenger machine, including a lab experiment that compares mediated kissing with Kissenger to real kissing, a unique haptic Turing test that involves the first academic study of humanmachine kiss, and a field study of the effects of Kissenger on long distance relationships

Lovotics: Human - Robot Love and Sex Relationships

Intimate relationships, such as love and sex, between human and machines, especially robots, has been one of the topics in science fiction. However, this topic has never been treated in the academic area until recently. The topic was first raised and discussed by David Levy in his book titled “Love and Sex with Robotics” published in 2007. As a result, the subject of human-robot romantic and intimate relationships rapidly developed into an academic research discipline in its own right. Since then, researchers have come up with many implementations of robot companions like sex robots, emotional robots, humanoid robots, and artificial intelligent systems that can simulate human emotions. This book chapter presents a summary of significant activity in this field during the recent years, predicts how the field is likely to develop, and its ethical and legal background. We also discuss our research in physical devices for human-robot love and sex communication

Digital touch for remote personal communication: An emergent sociotechnical imaginary

This article makes legible emergent social imaginaries of digital touch for remote communication in personal relationships, with attention to digital touch interfaces. It draws on data from rapid prototyping research workshops with apprentice professionals embedded within digital communication. Touch is discussed with respect to four analytical themes: materiality, body, emplacement and temporality. We illustrate how participants’ past and present experiences and future visions of remote digital touch thread through these themes and weave together to form a hegemonic, emergent sociotechnical imaginary of digital touch. The article contributes to social debates within digital personal remote communication by foregrounding touch, the material and the sensorial. The article’s novel interdisciplinary framework (combining design-based rapid prototyping with a multimodal and multi-sensorial analysis within the frame of the sociotechnical imaginary) also contributes to methodology around future-facing phenomena, prior to the process of their solidification into material, political formations

ARTIFICIAL AGENTS MODELING FOR INTIMATE TELEPRESENCE

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication

Communication is increasingly moving beyond ‘ways of seeing’ to ‘ways of feeling’. This Open Access book provides social design insights and implications for HCI research and design exploring digitally mediated touch communication. It offers a socially orientated map to help navigate the complex social landscape of digitally mediated touch for communication: from everyday touch-screens, tangibles, wearables, haptics for virtual reality, to the tactile internet of skin. Drawing on literature reviews, new case-study vignettes, and exemplars of digital touch, the book examines the major social debates provoked by digital touch, and investigates social themes central to the communicative potential and societal consequences of digital touch: · Communication environments, capacities and practices · Norms associations and expectations · Presence, absence and connection · Social imaginaries of digital touch · Digital touch ethics and values The book concludes with a discussion of the significance of social understanding and methods in the context of Interdisciplinary collaborations to explore touch, towards the design of digital touch communication, ‘ways of feeling’, that are useable, appropriate, ethical and socially aware

Interdisciplinary Insights for Digital Touch Communication

Communication is increasingly moving beyond ‘ways of seeing’ to ‘ways of feeling’. This Open Access book provides social design insights and implications for HCI research and design exploring digitally mediated touch communication. It offers a socially orientated map to help navigate the complex social landscape of digitally mediated touch for communication: from everyday touch-screens, tangibles, wearables, haptics for virtual reality, to the tactile internet of skin. Drawing on literature reviews, new case-study vignettes, and exemplars of digital touch, the book examines the major social debates provoked by digital touch, and investigates social themes central to the communicative potential and societal consequences of digital touch: · Communication environments, capacities and practices · Norms associations and expectations · Presence, absence and connection · Social imaginaries of digital touch · Digital touch ethics and values The book concludes with a discussion of the significance of social understanding and methods in the context of Interdisciplinary collaborations to explore touch, towards the design of digital touch communication, ‘ways of feeling’, that are useable, appropriate, ethical and socially aware

Designing an Online Platform to Support Long-distance Romantic Relationships

Nowadays, Long-Distance Relationships (LDRs) are increasingly popular and ubiquitous for many reasons, including travel for career, education, and parent care. Compared to geographically-close relationships; it seems LDRs face many challenges: difficulties in communication, time zone difference, temptations from others, and lack of physical engagement, among other things. While the rise of computer-mediated communication provide many channels for interaction for LDR partners, statistics show that many long-distance relationships still don\u27t last. I focused on two important factors that can impact relationship satisfaction—self-disclosure and a caring response. I employed an online survey to understand how partners self-disclose and show a caring response with each other in long-distance romantic relationships versus in an in-person romantic relationship. I found that the best channel to support self-disclosure and care is video, but video is not as convenient as text. I also discovered that, for most participants, the favorite part of offline communication is being able to see facial expressions and body language, hear tone of voice and have physical contact. Inspired by this research and participant feedback through focus groups, I designed an app called LoveNotes. The app emphasizes facial expression and tone, and uses the connotation of love letters. This app has potential to encourage LDR partners to express emotion and thoughts in a stronger, more accurate, more detectable way

All in the Family: Exploring Design Personas of Systems for Remote Communication with Preschoolers

Although there have been recent advances in remote communication technologies that foster connectedness and intimacy over a distance, systems designed for communicating with preliterate preschoolers—a desired use case—are not yet prevalent, nor are there clear guidelines for their design. We conducted a mixed-methods study to characterize the current practices, goals, and needs of people who wish to use remote communication systems with young children. We present quantitative and qualitative findings on the motivations for communicating, the habits, activities, and patterns that have been established, and the barriers and concerns faced. We synthesized these findings into four design personas that describe the desired functionality and requirements of systems to support remote communication with preschoolers. For each persona, we systematically evaluated 60 research-based systems based on the extent to which each persona’s requirements were covered, demonstrating that none of the personas were greatly satisfied with the available tools