Robot Mirroring: Promoting Empathy with an Artificial Agent by Reflecting the User's Physiological Affective States

Monica Perusquía-Hernández, Marisabel Cuberos Balda, David Antonio Gomez Jauregui, Diego Paez-Granados, Felix Dollack, Jose Victorio Salazar

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Self-tracking aims to increase awareness, decrease undesired behaviors, and ultimately lead towards a healthier lifestyle. However, inappropriate communication of self- tracking results might cause the opposite effect. Subtle self- tracking feedback is an alternative that can be provided with the aid of an artificial agent representing the self. Hence, we propose a wearable pet that reflects the user's affective states through visual and haptic feedback. By eliciting empathy and fostering helping behaviors towards it, users would indirectly help themselves. A wearable prototype was built, and three user studies performed to evaluate the appropriateness of the proposed affective representations. Visual representations using facial and body cues were clear for valence and less clear for arousal. Haptic interoceptive patterns emulating heart-rate levels matched the desired feedback urgency levels with a saturation frequency. The integrated visuo-haptic representations matched to participants own affective experience. From the results, we derived three design guidelines for future robot mirroring wearable systems: physical embodiment, interoceptive feedback, and customization.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2020
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages1328-1333
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781728160757
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020 Aug
Event29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2020 - Virtual, Naples, Italy
Duration: 2020 Aug 312020 Sept 4

Publication series

Name29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2020

Conference

Conference29th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, RO-MAN 2020
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityVirtual, Naples
Period20/8/3120/9/4

Keywords

  • embodiment
  • empathy and intersubjectivity
  • haptic feedback
  • human-machine interaction

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Social Psychology
  • Communication

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