Semi-autonomous touch method merging robot's autonomous touch and user-operated touch for improving user experience...

Area of Science:

• Human-Robot Interaction
• Mental Health Technology
• Robotics

Background:

• Growing demand for therapeutic robots to address mental health issues.
• Established benefits of touch for improving mental well-being.
• Challenges with autonomous robot touch causing recipient discomfort.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a semi-autonomous touch method for therapeutic robots.
• To mitigate discomfort associated with autonomous robot touch.
• To enhance the sensation of human connection and reduce interaction boredom.

Main Methods:

• Experiment with 24 participants evaluating robot touch on the neck.
• Comparison of three conditions: fully autonomous robot touch, user-operated touch, and semi-autonomous touch.
• Assessment of participant discomfort, sense of being touched, interaction boredom, and robot impressions (trustworthiness, friendliness).

Main Results:

• Semi-autonomous touch significantly mitigated discomfort compared to fully autonomous touch.
• Semi-autonomous touch enhanced the feeling of being touched by another person and reduced interaction boredom versus user-operated touch.
• Participants perceived robots with semi-autonomous touch as more trustworthy and friendly.

Conclusions:

• The proposed semi-autonomous touch method offers a promising approach for therapeutic robots.
• This method effectively balances comfort and the therapeutic benefits of touch.
• Robots with semi-autonomous touch show potential for enhancing mental health applications.