Touch is one of the important nonverbal forms of social interaction as are visual cues such as facial expressions, gaze, body posture and air gestures. However, compared to vision and audition (as in vocal cues), interpersonal touch does not generally receive much research attention yet. Similarly, the touch modality is often overlooked in human-computer interaction such as remote communication and in interactions with embodied or virtual agents. However, as interactions with social robots are likely to become more common in the near future these robots are expected to engage in tactile interaction with humans. In the symposium the speakers will present their research on the topic of social touch in human-computer interaction.
Program overview:
13:30 Coffee and welcome
13:45 Prof. dr. Karon MacLean − Making and Experimenting with Furry Robots with Feelings
14:15 Dr. Mehdi Ammi − Haptic expression and perception of emotions for mediated communication and social interaction with 3D avatars and robots
14:45 Break
15:00 Prof. dr. Jan van Erp − The promise of social touch in Human Computer Interaction
15:30 End
Following the symposium, Merel Jung will defend her PhD thesis entitled: "Socially intelligent robots that understand and respond to human touch" at 16:30h in building ‘De Waaier’, University of Twente
Detailed program:
Making and Experimenting with Furry Robots with Feelings
By Prof. dr. Karon MacLean (University of British Columbia, Canada)
Abstract: Touch has a major role to play in human-robot interaction. Here, advances in tactile sensing, wearable and context-aware computing as well as robotics more broadly are spurring new ideas about how to configure the human-robot relationship in terms of roles and utility, which in turn expose new technical and social design questions.
This talk will focus on my group’s recent work on haptic or physical human-robot interaction, where we aim to bring effective haptic interaction into people's lives by examining how touch (in either direction) can help address human needs with the benefit of both low- and high-tech innovation. I will give a sense of these efforts from three perspectives, each involving significant technical and evaluative design challenges: sensing emotive touch, designing expressive robot bodies and behaviours, and creating evaluative scenarios where participants experience genuine - and changing - emotions as they interact with our robots.
Haptic expression and perception of emotions for mediated communication and social interaction with 3D avatars and robots
By Dr. Mehdi Ammi (University of Paris-Sud, France)
Abstract: The presentation deals with a series of research carried out at the Univ. of Paris-Sud and that address both the expression and perception of emotions with the haptic channel for different type of interpersonal interaction and communication. Our early research explored how people express physically emotions when communicating with 3D avatars. Then, we investigated how the haptic feedback supplements the facial expression of 3D avatars to improve their emotional expressivity and to remove the ambiguity of perception of some close emotions. In this context, we used new methods based the “Information Integration Theory” to study and model the way in which people combine haptic and visual information to perceive emotions. With the same methodology, we investigated other interpersonal communication configurations, in particular, Human-Robot Social Interaction. The objective was to improve the social capacities of robot in daily life (handshake, etc.). perceive emotions. With the same methodology, we investigated other interpersonal communication configurations, in particular, Human-Robot Social Interaction. The objective was to improve the social capacities of robot in daily life (handshake, etc.).
The promise of social touch in Human Computer Interaction
By Prof. dr. Jan van Erp (TNO/ Utwente, the Netherlands)
Abstract: Human touch is an important modality in non-verbal communication and has proven effects on Physiology, (social) cognition and behavior. The soothing touch of a loved one increases your pain threshold, affects the secretion of stress hormones and can lower your heart rate and blood pressure. A simple human touch on for instance the arm induces pro-social behavior and enables trust and forming bonds between people. Hence the reference to the proverbial Midas touch. These and other effects have proven to be robust and it is commonly accepted that touch is
our primary nonverbal communication channel for conveying intimate emotions and as such essential for our physical and emotional wellbeing. In our digital age, human social interaction is often mediated. However, current communication systems (such as videoconferencing) still do not support communication through the sense of touch. As a result mediated communication does not provide the intense affective experience of co-located communication. Based on the above, one would expect great benefits of adding touch to mediated communication and some authors indeed report large favourable effects. However, there is also a substantial amount of studies that fail to replicate these favourable effects or that report no results of mediated touch in new experimental paradigms. These experimental results force us to look critically at the promise of social touch in Human Computer Interaction and the boundary conditions for its success.
