OMOY: A Handheld Communication Robot that Expresses Emotions and Intentions through Weight Shifting

Abstract

OMOY is a handheld communication robot that has a movable weight inside its body. The weight is attached to a translational and rotational mechanism that allows the weight to move along a 2D planar space. By combining the movement of the internal weight with other robotic behaviors (e.g., hand gestures or speech dialogues), it is expected to enhance its expressions of emotions and/or intentions. To gain effective design guidelines for the weight shifts an elicitation study was conducted. Participants (N=18) who hold the robot were asked about their perceptions of its 36 weight shift patterns generated by changing four basic movement parameters (target position, trajectory, speed, and repetition). Results showed relationships between these parameters and the emotion/intention perceptions of the users. Moreover, specific weight shift patterns that can express certain human emotions and intentions were found. These findings will be useful for designing effective weight shifts to enhance messaging between users: for example, in a case with the robot being employed as a "social mediator" of remote communication involving elderly people who live apart from his/her family members.