Effects of enlarged pupillary expression synchronized with body contact in a pupil response pet-robot

Abstract

Pupil response is closely related to own affect and interest, and an enlarged pupil makes a good impression on others. Focusing on effects of the pupil response, we have developed a pupil response pet-robot for improving familiarity. This pet-robot can generate pupil response like human by tactile input during body contact. In this study, we conducted the experiment to evaluate the generation timing of enlarged pupillary expression using the developed pet-robot. The result demonstrated that the enlarged pupillary expression synchronized with body contact is effective in improving familiarity between human and pet-robots.