Sustaining interaction dynamics and engagement in dyadic child-robot interaction kinesics: lessons learnt from an exploratory study

Abstract-We present an exploratory study investigating a drumming experience with Kaspar, a humanoid child-sized robot, and a human. In this work, our aim is not to have Kaspar just replicate the human partner's drumming, but to engage with the human in a 'social manner' using head gestures in a call and response turn-taking interaction and to assess the impact of nonverbal gestures on the interaction. Results from the first implementation of a human-robot interaction experiment are presented and analysed qualitatively (in terms of participants' subjective experiences) and quantitatively (concerning the drumming performance of the human-robot pair). The interaction experience is discussed in terms of imitation, turntaking, and the effect of gender differences.

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“…[13]). It is not always clear when the robot or human partner should start interaction in taking a turn.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drum-mate: A human-humanoid drumming experience

Köse

Dautenhahn

Syrdal

et al. 2007

2007 7th IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots

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“…More on the topic of timing, Robins et al [19], working with robots rather than virtual humans, conclude qualitatively from an exploratory study about "Rhythm, kinesics, body motion and timing" that "[...] responding with appropriate timing so as to mesh with the timing of human actions encourages sustained interaction" and "Robot-human temporal interaction kinesics will eventually need to be studied deeply in order to put this dimension within the purview of HRI designers".…”

Section: Synchrony In Natural Interaction With Virtual Humans and Socmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Multimodal Synchrony for Human-Computer Interaction

Reidsma

Nijholt

Tschacher

et al. 2010

2010 International Conference on Cyberworlds

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Abstract-Nonverbal synchrony is an important and natural element in human-human interaction. It can also play various roles in human-computer interaction. In particular this is the case in the interaction between humans and the virtual humans that inhabit our cyberworlds. Virtual humans need to adapt their behavior to the behavior of their human interaction partners in order to maintain a natural and continuous interaction synchronization. This paper surveys approaches to modeling synchronization and applications where this modeling is important. Apart from presenting this framework, we also present a quantitative method for measuring the level of nonverbal synchrony in an interaction and observations on future research that allows embedding such methods in models of interaction behavior of virtual humans.

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“…If a face is humanoid, what level of realism is optimal? What role could timing in communication [25] and the movement and timing of interactive behaviour (kinesics [21], [1]) play?…”

Section: B Designing Robots For Usersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Robot Smiles and Dimensions for Human-Robot Interaction Design

Blow

Dautenhahn

Appleby

et al. 2006

ROMAN 2006 - The 15th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication

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Abstract-As robots enter everyday life and start to interact with ordinary people the question of their appearance becomes increasingly important. Our perception of a robot can be strongly influenced by its facial appearance. Synthesizing relevant ideas from narrative art design, the psychology of face recognition, and recent HRI studies into robot faces, we discuss effects of the uncanny valley and the use of iconicity and its relationship to the self-other perceptive divide, as well as abstractness and realism, classifying existing designs along these dimensions. A new expressive HRI research robot called KASPAR is introduced and the results of a preliminary study on human perceptions of robot expressions are discussed. I. MOTIVATIONSIt is an exciting time in robotics. Personal service robots, so long the science fiction dream, are becoming reality and are for sale to general consumers. Currently their uses are limited, but capabilities are improving, costs are coming down and sales are growing. In addition robots are finding a new place in society as toys, artificial pets [20], security guards, teachers [10], tour guides [24] and in search and rescue. They are finding use in areas as diverse as autism therapy [22], space exploration and research into cognition and biological systems [23]. A. RobotCubOne such research project that we are involved in at Hertfordshire is RobotCub, a multinational European project to build a humanoid child-size robot for use in embodied cognitive development research [23]. The RobotCub consortium consists of 11 core partners from Europe with collaborators in America and Japan, and the institutions involved are each working on specific areas of the robot design, engineering, developmental psychology and human-robot interaction. The software APIs and hardware plans will be published under open-source licenses, with the aim of creating a community using a common platform for robotic and cognitive research. B. Designing Robots for UsersA previous study of people's expectations of a robot companion indicated that a large proportion of the participants in the test were in favour of a robot companion, especially one that could communicate in a human-like way [6]. Human-like behaviour and appearance were also considered important, but less so than human-like communication. II. CONSIDERING DESIGN A. The Extended Uncanny ValleyThe effect of the aesthetic design of a robot is an area that has often been neglected, and only in visual science fiction media or recently with the advent of commercial household robots has it been paid much attention. A notable exception is the 'uncanny valley' proposed by Masahiro Mori in the late 1970's [17], [5]. Mori proposed that the acceptance of a humanoid robot increases as realism increases. However there comes a point where, as the robot approaches perfect realism, the effect becomes instead very disturbing and acceptance plunges, because the robot starts to look not quite human or at worst like a moving corpse (Fig. 1). In theory the realism of both ap...

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Sustaining interaction dynamics and engagement in dyadic child-robot interaction kinesics: lessons learnt from an exploratory study

Cited by 36 publications

References 31 publications

Drum-mate: A human-humanoid drumming experience

Drum-mate: A human-humanoid drumming experience

Measuring Multimodal Synchrony for Human-Computer Interaction

Perception of Robot Smiles and Dimensions for Human-Robot Interaction Design

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