Robot that seems to convey emotion while reading

Date:
March 10, 2022
Source:
University of Tsukuba
Summary:
Researchers have created a robot with an internal weight that
can give the impression of conveying emotions while reading text
messages. It can also remind users to not get upset, which may
help them cope with unpleasant information.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Scientists from the Faculty of Engineering, Information and Systems at
the University of Tsukuba devised a text message mediation robot that
can help users control their anger when receiving upsetting news. This
device may help improve social interactions as we move towards a world
with increasingly digital communications.


========================================================================== While a quick text message apology is a fast and easy way for friends
to let us know they are going to be late for a planned meet up, it is
often missing the human element that would accompany an explanation face-to-face, or even over the phone. It is likely to be more upsetting
when we are not able to perceive the emotional weight behind our friends' regret at making us wait.

Now, researchers at the University of Tsukuba have built a handheld robot
they called OMOY, which was equipped with a movable weight actuated by mechanical components inside its body. By shifting the internal weight,
the robot could express simulated emotions. The robot was deployed as a mediator for reading text messages. A text with unwelcome or frustrating
news could be followed by an exhortation by OMOY to not get upset, or even sympathy for the user. "With the medium of written digital communication,
the lack of social feedback redirect focus from the sender and onto the
content of the message itself," author Professor Fumihide Tanaka says. The mediator robot was designed so that it can suppress the user's anger and
other negative interpersonal motivations, such as thoughts of revenge,
and instead fostered forgiveness.

The researchers tested 94 people with a message like "I'm sorry, I am
late. The appointment slipped my mind. Can you wait another hour?" The
team found that OMOY was able to reduce negative emotions. "The
mediator robot can relay a frustrating message followed by giving its
own opinion. When this speech is accompanied by the appropriate weight
shifts, we saw that that the user would perceive the 'intention' of the
robot to help them calm down," Professor Tanaka says.

The robot's body expression produced by weight shifts did not require any specific external components, such as arms or legs, which implied that the internal weight movements could reduce a user's anger or other negative emotions without the use of rich body gestures or facial expressions.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Tsukuba. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yohei Noguchi, Hiroko Kamide, Fumihide Tanaka. Weight Shift
Movements of
a Social Mediator Robot Make It Being Recognized as Serious
and Suppress Anger, Revenge and Avoidance Motivation
of the User. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2022; 9 DOI:
10.3389/frobt.2022.790209 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220310100010.htm

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