Building a Human-Bicycle Emotional Bond Through Abstract Expression of Affect Graduation Presentation Media Technology MSc Programme Leiden University

1. Synthetic Emotions Bicycle (SEB)
Building a Human-Bicycle Emotional Bond
Through Abstract Expression of Affect
TamaraV. Pinos Cisneros
Graduation Project
Media Technology MSc Programme
Thesis advisors: Maarten H. Lamers, Joost Broekens

2. Introduction
• Humans develop emotional bonds,
even with objects (including robots).
• The need for social robots has given
the impetus to create robots that
can express emotions.
“I don’t know what I would
do without my <object>...”
Kismet - MIT

3. Research Question
Can objects with emotions
represented as abstract shapes help
improve the emotional bond between
them and their owners?

4. Related work
• Emotional Model:
• Dimensional Theories -
Mehrabian’s: Pleasure,
Arousal and Dominance
• Homeostasis:
equilibrium of
physiological elements.
“Needs and Drives”
P-P
-A
D
-D
A
Homeostatic
Overwhelmed
Under-stimulated

5. Related work
• Affect Expression
• Realistic • Iconic • Abstract
Leonardo
Personal Robots Group
MIT
Anthropomorphic
Einstein
Hanson Robotics
de Roij et al. 2013
Betella et al. 2013

6. Related work
• Affectional bond
• Bond: the attraction that
one individual has for
another individual. (John
Bowlby)
• Bonds develop when an
individual realizes that in
order to reduce a drive or
need, another object (a
material object or a living
being) is necessary.
Utility
Appearance
Symbolic
meaning
Users’ experience
• Key components to create
emotional bonds from a
product design approach:
Interesting
and Fun!
usable bicycle
appealing appearance
expression of its
emotions
(Norman, D.A. 2007, Emotional Design: Why
we love (or hate) everyday things.)

7. Similar Projects
Cars Bicycles
Detect the affective state of the driver:
speech recognition, stress detectors, facial
expression recognition
Sensors on the bicycle,
tweets its feelings
AIDA

8. SEB, the bike
Eungi Kim - Designer
or the steel horse...
• Mountain bike
• Race bike
• Omafiets (Grandma bike)
• Student bike
• Family bike
• Kids bike
Personalities
A metaphor of a Horse
• Means of transportation
• Require the care of its owner
• Similar shapes
• Have attributed personalities

9. SEB, the bike
How SEB feels Needs

10. SEB, the bike
Variables Sensors
Damage (avoid fall) Accelerometer
Temperature Temperature sensor
Shelter Photoresistor (LDR)
and Temperature/
Humidity sensor
Road conditions Accelerometer
Maintenance Self assessment button
Balance Accelerometer
Ascend/Descend Accelerometer
Speed Speedometer
Light/Darkness LDR
Contact Stroke sensor
Locked Speedometer and
Optical Transistor
Needs
Affect on
Homeostasis
Affect on no
Homeostasis
Physical Integrity Serenity, Joy Annoyance, Fear,Anger
Flow Joy Fear
Speed Happy Fear (too fast)
Annoyance (too slow)
Relationship Serenity, Joy,Trust Fear, Sad

11. SEB, the bike
Need
Min.
Value
Max.
Value
Optimal
Value
Physical Integrity 0 10 7
Flow 0 4 2.5
Speed 0 40 15
Relationship 0 10 5.5
Variable Action Effect No action
Maintenance Press the button + 2 -0.00001
Contact-
Attention
Touch the stroke
sensor
+ 0.25 -0.0001
Locked Lock the bike + 2 -0.001
Light/
Darkness
light of the
environment
(outside/inside)
+ 0.0001 -0.001
For example: Need of Relationship
Ppi + Pf + Ps + Pr = P
Api + Af + As + Ar = A
Dpi + Df + Ds + Dr = D
Abstract Expression

12. SEB, the bike
• Based on the previous
research by (de Rooij,
Broekens et al. 2013)
FactorFactorFactor
FeatureFeature P A D
ContourContour + + +
- - - *
Asymmetry - - - -Asymmetry
Rot. + + +
SizeSize + + +
* rounded contour(pleasure) and angular contour (displeasure)
Abstract Expression

13. Tests and Results
Static evaluation
• Two experts assessed 20 images
generated by the system.They defined
the values of Pleasure,Arousal and
Dominance in a scale of 1 - 5
Dimension Expert1 -
System
Expert2 -
System
Expert1 -
Expert2
P 0.75** 0.80** 0.72**
A 0.76** 0.12 0.47*
D 0.12 0.26 0.71**
‘**’ denote a significance of p<0.005 and ‘*’ denote a
significance of p<0.05
Correlations

14. Tests and Results
Dynamic evaluation
• Users: n=6 (3 females, 3 males)
• Ages: 20 - 31
• Different nationalities
• Users had the bike for 24h while
performing their normal activities
• Actual time of riding between
20mins - 1h
• Users filled a Pre-questionnaire, a
Post-questionnaire and a form for
events, comments after the test
were also noted How did the users viewed SEB, its emotions
and the personality traits attributed to him?
How connected did they feel with SEB?

15. Tests and Results
Dynamic evaluation
Personality traits
with its correspondent error bar with 95% CI, 1 means that
participants did not link the bike with the theme at all. 5 means that
participants completely link the bike with the theme.
Users’ impression of the bicycle
Box-plots of personalities identified by the users with a 95%
Confidence interval for mean.
Utility Appearance

16. Symbolic meaning Users’ experience
Test and Results
• Users found SEB interesting, enjoyable, pleasant and fascinating
Users’ responses to Q8:“It sometimes felt as if SEB was really
communicating with me” vs. Q14:“I have a bond with SEB”
User’s responses to Q4:“I find SEB enjoyable”, Q5:“I
find SEB fascinating”, Q6*:”I find SEB annoying”,
Q7*:“I find SEB boring”.The scores for the
statements with ‘*’ have been inverted to change
keep all results in the same direction. Error bars with
95% CI.

17. Test and Results
• Time of testing too small
• Complexity of the
emotional space.What
triggered what?
Affective word/
phrase
Amount of
testers
Petting 4
Take care 2
Worried about it's
feelings
2
Make SEB happy 3
Tamagochi 1
I liked it 5
SEB 3
“SEB was not happy and I don’t know why...”
During 5-10mins conversation after the test.

18. Conclusions
• More users and a longer amount of
interaction with the bicycle could have
provided a deeper understanding of
the system
• These results show that it is feasible to
enhance an emotional bond with an
object by interacting with it
• The use of abstract expressions of
affect can be a viable way to
communicate the emotions of an
object
• Although a representations model
based on Pleasure and Arousal can
represent simple emotions an
improved version including Dominance
could contribute further in the analysis
of abstract expression of affect.
Utility
Appearance
Users’ experience
Symbolic
meaning

19. Future Work
• Are there benefits of feeling
emotionally connected to your
bicycle or any other given
object?
✤ better care
✤ incentive to exercise more (exergaming)
✤ incentive to increase the amount of users
in other countries
• Would this method be more
efficient than other types of
expression of affect?
✤ use of animated visual motifs
✤ use of emoticons