Exercise Support System Utilizing the Behavior of Audience Robots

Abstract

This paper proposes a support system that enhances users’ exercise motivation through non-verbal behavioral expressions by virtual audience robots in accordance with the difficulty and performance of the user’s exercise. Previous studies have shown that the presence of an audience can positively affect motivation through the audience effect and increased self-efficacy. In this paper, we developed a virtual reality (VR) environment where users perform boxercise while being observed by audience robots capable of expressing cheers, movements, and facial expressions. These behaviors are dynamically altered based on the user’s performance and exercise difficulty. Evaluation experiments confirmed that the audience robots’ behavior enhances the enjoyment of movement.