| 1. |
- Akalin, Neziha, 1988-, et al.
(author)
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The Influence of Feedback Type in Robot-Assisted Training
- 2019
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In: Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. - : Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute. - 2414-4088. ; 3:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Robot-assisted training, where social robots can be used as motivational coaches, provides an interesting application area. This paper examines how feedback given by a robot agent influences the various facets of participant experience in robot-assisted training. Specifically, we investigated the effects of feedback type on robot acceptance, sense of safety and security, attitude towards robots and task performance. In the experiment, 23 older participants performed basic arm exercises with a social robot as a guide and received feedback. Different feedback conditions were administered, such as flattering, positive and negative feedback. Our results suggest that the robot with flattering and positive feedback was appreciated by older people in general, even if the feedback did not necessarily correspond to objective measures such as performance. Participants in these groups felt better about the interaction and the robot.
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| 2. |
- Krishna, Sai, 1986-, et al.
(author)
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F-Formations for Social Interaction in Simulation Using Virtual Agents and Mobile Robotic Telepresence Systems
- 2019
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In: Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. - : MDPI. - 2414-4088. ; 3:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- F-formations are a set of possible patterns in which groups of people tend to spatially organize themselves while engaging in social interactions. In this paper, we study the behavior of teleoperators of mobile robotic telepresence systems to determine whether they adhere to spatial formations when navigating to groups. This work uses a simulated environment in which teleoperators are requested to navigate to different groups of virtual agents. The simulated environment represents a conference lobby scenario where multiple groups of Virtual Agents with varying group sizes are placed in different spatial formations. The task requires teleoperators to navigate a robot to join each group using an egocentric-perspective camera. In a second phase, teleoperators are allowed to evaluate their own performance by reviewing how they navigated the robot from an exocentric perspective. The two important outcomes from this study are, firstly, teleoperators inherently respect F-formations even when operating a mobile robotic telepresence system. Secondly, teleoperators prefer additional support in order to correctly navigate the robot into a preferred position that adheres to F-formations.
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| 3. |
- Frid, Emma, 1988-
(author)
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Accessible Digital Musical Instruments : A Review of Musical Interfaces in Inclusive Music Practice
- 2019
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In: Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. - : MDPI. - 2414-4088. ; 3:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Current advancements in music technology enable the creation of customized Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs). This paper presents a systematic review of Accessible Digital Musical Instruments (ADMIs) in inclusive music practice. History of research concerned with facilitating inclusion in music-making is outlined, and current state of developments and trends in the field are discussed. Although the use of music technology in music therapy contexts has attracted more attention in recent years, the topic has been relatively unexplored in Computer Music literature. This review investigates a total of 113 publications focusing on ADMIs. Based on the 83 instruments in this dataset, ten control interface types were identified: tangible controllers, touchless controllers, Brain–Computer Music Interfaces (BCMIs), adapted instruments, wearable controllers or prosthetic devices, mouth-operated controllers, audio controllers, gaze controllers, touchscreen controllers and mouse-controlled interfaces. The majority of the AMDIs were tangible or physical controllers. Although the haptic modality could potentially play an important role in musical interaction for many user groups, relatively few of the ADMIs (15.6%) incorporated vibrotactile feedback. Aspects judged to be important for successful ADMI design were instrument adaptability and customization, user participation, iterative prototyping, and interdisciplinary development teams.
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| 4. |
- Lowe, Robert
(author)
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Emotions in Robots: Embodied Interaction in Social and Non-Social Environments
- 2019
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In: Multimodal Technologies and Interaction. - : MDPI AG. - 2414-4088. ; 3:3, s. 1-4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Whether they are considered discrete or dimensional, emotions are ’embodied’ phenomena. The embodied agent does not play a merely passive role in emotion processing. Rather, the body itself, in interaction with its external environment, influences how real/imagined, environmental stimuli are perceived and acted upon. The body behaviorally orients and acts, and internally physiologically ‘prepares’ in relation to its external environment [1]. Today, we see a shift towards robots that need to interact in relation to the social and emotional aspects of human environments. There are at least two areas in which ‘embodied’ implementations of emotional processes can enhance robotic performance in human environments: (i) improved human-inter-actor experience and (ii) facilitated competence. The mode of embodiment of the emotion-guided robot entails not only its physical dimension regarding how and what it senses and appears to human inter-actors, but also its internal homeostatic aspects that regulate its goals and those very same interactions. The increased emphasis over the past two decades in the area of social and non-social robotics on emotional activity is a testimony to its perceived importance within the robotics community. The embodied emotional activity in robots is perhaps most famously recognized in terms of emotion expression capabilities, above all with respect to facial expression [2,3]. The extent to which such robots socially appropriately express emotional or empathic states [3], e.g., according to underlying homeostatic computations [2], largely determines the extent to which the robots are positively received by their human inter-actors. Such aspects of embodiment to emotional activity in robots, including how emotions influence decision-making and aspects of functional (including non-social) interactive behavior, are often undervalued or at least sub-ordinated with respect to the expressive facets of emotional embodiment. The aforementioned role of homeostasis has been demonstrated to provide an important function for robots required to behave autonomously over unspecified durations, e.g., in not-well-understood, or otherwise inaccessible, environments [4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. This notion has more recently been extended to incorporate the notion of predictive regulation (or allostasis) [11,12] and has been considered with respect to artificial systems [13,14]. Providing the tools for robots to not just express but also interpret embodied emotional engagement, e.g., through the modality of tactile interaction [15,16,17], also provides an interesting area of relatively recent research. Robotic agents have also been used in clinical settings, e.g., to facilitate the development of autistic children for whom a robot, more predictable than a human, can provide a suitable interacting partner. The physical appearance, mode of embodied interaction, and environmental setting, all provide crucial elements in the emotional engagement that can ensue [18]. Even outside the clinical setting, robots designed to interact with humans over long periods, i.e., not just as care-givers or trainers, but as robotic companions, should engage with humans in ways that are functional, believable, and even creative [19].
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