HRI 2011 — Design and Assessment of the Haptic Creature’s Affect Display

Design and Assessment of
the Haptic Creature’s Affect Display
Steve Yohanan and Karon E. MacLean
SPIN Research Group • Department of Computer Science • University of British Columbia

Design and Assessment of the Haptic Creature’s Affect Display - Steve Yohanan - HRI 2011 2
The Haptic Creature Project
Social HRI through Affective Touch
● Emotion communication is
an important aspect of social
interaction.
● Predominately displayed
through facial expression or
speech prosody.
● Touch is an under-explored
modality for affect display.
Emphasis on Companionship & Therapy

Social HRI through Affective Touch
● Small, fur covered robot the
size of large cat or small dog.
● Emotion Expression
– Ears
– Breathing
– Vibrotactile Purr
● Emotion Sensing
– Touch Sensors
– Accelerometer
The Haptic Creature

Research Approach
Affect Display from Robot

Research Approach
Affect Display from Human

Research Approach
Influence of Affect Display
Full Cycle of Interaction

Research Questions
● In what manner might the Haptic Creature communicate its
emotional state through touch?
● How effective is the Haptic Creature at communicating its
emotional state through touch?
● Does gender or experience with animals affect perception of
the Haptic Creature's emotional state?
Affect Display from Robot

Highlights
● Describe the Haptic Creature's affect display design.
– Arousal: ear stiffness & breathing rate.
– Valence: breath symmetry & purring.
● Present a hybrid technique developed for assessing
effectiveness of affect display.
● Found robot communicated arousal more clearly than valence.
● Provide suggestions for improvement.

Overview
➢ Related Robots
● Affect Display Design
● Assessment of Affect Display
● Results
● Suggested Improvements

Related Robots
● Intersection of ...
– socially interactive
robotics,
– zoomorphic,
– touch interaction, and
– affect display.
● Haptic Creature focuses on
affect display solely through
touch.
● Haptic Creature does not
represent a specific animal.
ShibataShibata StiehlStiehl
UgobeUgobe SonySony
Saldien & GorisSaldien & Goris

Overview
● Related Robots
➢ Affect Display Design
● Results

Affect Display Design
Affect Space
Valence and Arousal
Adapted from
Russell (1980, 1989)

Affect Space
Emotional State => (v,a)
Current Emotion

Affect Space
Behavior Specified by Key Expressions
Current Emotion
Key Expression
Behavior Interpolation

The Haptic Creature
Affect Display Parameters
Behavior Development
Behavior
Refinement
Behavior
Refinement
Behavior
Refinement
Animal
Models
Informal
Pilots
Mini-
Study
Informal
Pilots

The Haptic Creature
Affect Display Parameters
Breathing Rate
Ear Stiffness
Arousal
Breathing Symmetry
Valence
Purr Presence
Valence (Positive)
Purr Amplitude
Arousal

Overview
● Related Robots
➢ Assessment of Affect Display
● Results

Assessment of Affect Display
Study Overview
Effectiveness of Communicating Emotional State
● Haptic Creature expressed a
variety of emotional states.
● Participants rated perceived
emotional state in two ways.
● Emotion Label
– Pinpoint specific emotion.
● Valence and Arousal
– Fine grain dimensional.
● These two measures provide
confirmation of each other.

Response Format
● Forced choice from 16
emotion labels.
● 9 dimensional emotion labels
(Russell).
● 6 (*) distinct emotion labels
(Ekman).
● “None Of These” avoids
artificial agreement
(Frank and Stennett).
Afraid* Miserable
Angry* Neutral
Aroused Pleased
Depressed Relaxed
Disgusted* Sad*
Distressed Sleepy
Excited Surprised*
Happy* None Of These
Emotion Label

Response Format
Perceived Valence and Arousal
Sad ↔ Happy
Calm ↔ Excited
Self-Assessment Manikin (Lang 1980)
7-Level Pictorial Scales

● 32 Participants
(50% Female)
● Ages 19 to 50
(M 27.5, SD 9.37)
● 9 Unique Stimuli
x 2 Repetitions Per Block
x 3 Blocks
= 54 Total Stimuli

Emotion Stimuli
Min, Max, Avg for Valence and Arousal
Stimulus

Overview
● Related Robots
➢ Results

Results
Emotion Labeling
Matching Distinct with Dimensional Labels
● Russell's (9) emotion labels
map directly to affect space.
● Need method to map
Ekman's (6) emotion labels.
Distressed Aroused Excited
Miserable Neutral Pleased
Depressed Sleepy Relaxed

Results
Emotion Labeling
Matching Distinct with Dimensional Labels
● Valence and arousal ratings
were analyzed for each label
choice.
● Labels where both the
valence and arousal did not
statistically differ were
considered equivalent.
● “Surprised” not matched.
Distressed Aroused Excited
Miserable Neutral Pleased
Depressed Sleepy Relaxed
Happy
Sad
Afraid
Angry
Disgusted

Results
Emotion Labeling
● Robot correctly displayed its
affect state (by participant):
17% to 52%
(M 30%, SD 10%)
● No influence of gender or
experience with animals.
● “Distressed” dominated high
arousal conditions.
“Sleepy” dominated low
arousal.
Recognition Scoring
Aroused Excited
Miserable
Depressed Relaxed
Distressed Distressed
Distressed
Sleepy Sleepy
Neutral
Neutral
Pleased
Pleased
Sleepy
Sleepy
Distressed
Distressed

Results
Perceived Valence and Arousal
Arousal Expressed More Clearly Than Valence
Valence
Unpleasant Neutral Pleasant
Arousal
NeutralActivated Deactivated

Overview
● Related Robots
● Results
➢ Suggested Improvements

Suggested Improvements
Breathing
● Breathing Rate successfully
conveyed arousal.
● Participant debriefing found
cue both for arousal and
valence.
– Faster breathing implying
negative valence.
Breathing Rate
Arousal &
Valence

Breathing
● Breath Symmetry failed to
convey valence.
● Participant debriefing found
Breathing Depth as cue for
valence.
– Shallower depth implying
negative valence.
Breathing Depth
Valence

Purring
Purr Presence
Valence
(Positive & Negative)
Purr Amplitude
Arousal
● Successfully portrayed
positive valence for
“Pleased”.
● “Excited” confused with
“Distressed”.
● High Amplitude implied
negative valence (shivering).
– Reduce intensity for
“Excited”.
● Leverage shivering concept
for negative valence purr
(e.g., “Miserable”).

In Summary
● Described the Haptic Creature's affect display design.
● Presented a hybrid technique for assessing effectiveness of
affect display.
● Found robot communicated arousal more clearly than valence.
– Stiffness (ears) successfully conveyed arousal.
Rate of Touch (breathing) successfully conveyed arousal.
– Vibration (purr) successfully conveyed positive valence.
Vibration Amplitude (purr) miscategorized valence.
– Symmetry of Touch (breathing) failed to convey valence.
● Gender and experience with animals did not influence
perception of the robot's emotional state.

Questions
Merci!

HRI 2011 — Design and Assessment of the Haptic Creature’s Affect Display

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HRI 2011 — Design and Assessment of the Haptic Creature’s Affect Display