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Article
Both “look and feel” matter: Essential factors for robotic companionship
2017 26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)
  • Maryam FakhrHosseini, Michigan Technological University
  • Dylan Lettinga, Michigan Technological University
  • Eric Vasey, Michigan Technological University
  • Zhi Zheng, Michigan Technological University
  • Myounghoon Jeon, Michigan Technological University
  • Chung Hyuk Park, George Washington University
  • Ayanna Howard, Georgia Institute of Technology
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
9-1-2017
Disciplines
Abstract

Abstract: Physical embodiment of robots provides users with a social environment. To design social robots further to be accepted as our companions, we need to understand the essential factors and implement them and so, users get to bring them to their personal environments. To this aim, we focused on two important factors in robotic companionship: robot appearance (look) and emotional expression (feel). Twenty-one participants played an online game with the help from two humanoid robots, Nao (more human-like looking) and Darwin (less human-like looking). Participants interacted with each robot either with emotional words or without emotional words. Results show that only when the robot both looks more human-like and speaks with emotional expression, participants perceive it as their companion. Implications are discussed with future works.

Publisher's Statement

Copyright © 2017, IEEE. Publisher's version of record: https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2017.8172294

Citation Information
Maryam FakhrHosseini, Dylan Lettinga, Eric Vasey, Zhi Zheng, et al.. "Both “look and feel” matter: Essential factors for robotic companionship" 2017 26th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN) (2017)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/philart-jeon/17/