Emotional Expression by Controlling Perceived Stiffness of Social Robots

Abstract

This study presents a social robot that expresses emotion by controlling contact reaction force and sound in response to the touch from users. For social robots interact and communicate with human users, it is crucial to investigate the relationship between the stimulus provided by the robot and the how users interpret them as emotional behaviors. The developed cube-type robot is able to vary perceived stiffness by controlling an electromagnetic brake. The experiment demonstrates the robot’s potential to affect emotional valence with simple audio stimuli.