Design and Evaluation of Affinity Expressions for Child-like Characteristics Robots

Abstract

With the rapid development of service robots in the senior care industry, academics have paid more attention to the study of the expression and perception of affinity for companion robots in order to reduce user barriers and mistrust. We designed an aging-in-place service robot, CareBot, and proposed six design guidelines for affinity expressions of child-like characteristics. These affinity expressions were evaluated by simulating the interaction experiment of aging in place. The results showed that participants identified three of the affinity expressions (enthusiastic, indifferent and safety) significantly more correctly than the other three (pleasant, friendly and approachable). We further found that the appearance of robots with child-like interaction characteristics such as big-eyed expressions, cute movements, and children's voices are more approachable to the elderly and are easily appreciated by them.

Keywords: affinity expressions evaluation, child-like characteristics, CareBot service robot

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1004055