Social Touch in Human–Robot Interaction: Robot-Initiated Touches can Induce Positive Responses without Extensive Prior Bonding

Social touch interactions can, depending on the type and strength of the dyadic social relationship, elicit a plethora of physiological, emotional, and behavioral responses; both beneficial and disadvantageous. With the intention to expand the communicative capabilities of humanoid social robots, we investigated whether robot-initiated touches...

Communication via warm haptic interfaces does not increase social warmth

Affective haptic interfaces are designed to influence one’s emotional and physiological state via the sense of touch, and may be applied as communication media to increase the sense of closeness. Recent research suggests that stimulation with physical warmth can enhance this interpersonal closeness: a physical-social warmth link. It is often...

Affective and behavioral responses to robot-initiated social touch: Towards understanding the opportunities and limitations of physical contact in human-robot interaction

Social touch forms an important aspect of the human non-verbal communication repertoire, but is often overlooked in human–robot interaction. In this study, we investigated whether robot-initiated touches can induce physiological, emotional, and behavioral responses similar to those reported for human touches. Thirty-nine participants were...

Observing Touch from Video: The Influence of Social Cues on Pleasantness Perceptions

In order to advance the understanding of affective touch perceptions, and in particular to inform the design of physical human-robot interactions, an online video study was conducted in which observed stroking touches were assessed on perceived pleasantness. Touches were applied at different velocities and either with a human hand, a robot hand,...

A warm touch of affect?

One of the research areas within affective Computer Mediated Communication currently under investigation is that of mediated social touch. A social touch is a complex composition of different physical parameters that can be simulated by haptic technologies. In this article we argue why we think it makes sense to incorporate warmth - and in...

Warmth in affective mediated interaction: Exploring the effects of physical warmth on interpersonal warmth

Recent research suggests that physical warmth activates perceptions of metaphorical interpersonal warmth and closeness, and increases pro-social behavior. These effects are grounded in our earliest intimate experiences: being held by our loving caregivers. These findings provide reasons to incorporate warmth in devices for distant affective...

Nakama: A companion for non-verbal affective communication

We present "Nakama": A communication device that supports affective communication between a child and its - geographically separated - parent. Nakama consists of a control unit at the parent's end and an actuated teddy bear for the child. The bear contains several communication channels, including social touch, temperature, and vibrotactile...

Design of a wearable research tool for warm mediated social touches

Social touches are essential in interpersonal communication, for instance to show affect. Despite this importance, mediated interpersonal communication oftentimes lacks the possibility to touch. A human touch is a complex composition of several physical qualities and parameters, but different haptic technologies allow us to isolate such...

Sensators: Active multisensory tangible user interfaces

Although Tangible User Interfaces are considered an intuitive means of human-computer interaction, they oftentimes lack the option to provide active feedback. We developed ‘Sensators’: generic shaped active tangibles to be used on a multi-touch table. Sensators can represent digital information by means of ‘Sensicons’: multimodal messages...