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Saying It with Light: A Pilot Study of Affective Communication Using the MIRO Robot

Conference paper
First Online:
Part of the Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, volume 9222)

Abstract

Recently, the concept of a ‘companion robot’ as a healthcare tool has been popularised, and even commercialised. We present MIRO, a robot that is biomimetic in aesthetics, morphology, behaviour, and control architecture. In this paper, we review how these design choices affect its suitability for a companionship role. In particular, we consider how emulation of the familiar body language and other emotional expressions of mammals may facilitate effective communication with naïve users through the reliable evocation of intended perceptions of emotional state and intent. We go on to present a brief pilot study addressing the question of whether shared cultural signals can be relied upon, similarly, as components of communication systems for companion robots. Such studies form part of our ongoing effort to understand and quantify human responses to robot expressive behaviour and, thereby, develop a methodology for optimising the design of social robots by accounting for individual and cultural differences.

Keywords

Humanoid Robot Body Language Social Robot Circumplex Model Body Shell 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.The University Of SheffieldSheffieldUK

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