1st Edition
Social Touch in Human–Robot Interaction Symbiotic touch interaction between human and robot
In this book for researchers and students, editors Shiomi and Sumioka bring together contributions from researchers working on the CREST project at ATR Deep Interaction Laboratories, a world leader in social robotics, to comprehensively describe robot touch systems from hardware to applications.
Appropriate touch from robots to humans is essential for social robots, but achieving this requires various solutions at every stage of the touch process. Through this book, readers will gain an understanding of the needs, essential systems and communication cues, behaviour designs, and real‑world issues for social touch applications. This book compiles and updates technical and empirical research that was previously scattered throughout the literature into a single volume. Through individually authored chapters addressing various elements of ATR’s CREST project, this book tackles key areas where understanding is needed to realize acceptable touch interaction, including pre‑touch interaction, interaction design for touching and being touched, behaviour changes caused by touch interaction, and applications of social touch interaction. It introduces a touch sensor and robots developed by the authors, including several touch‑related behaviours and design policies. This approach will enable readers to easily apply this knowledge to their own social robotics programs. This book is invaluable for anyone who wishes to understand and develop social robots that physically interact with people.
It is most beneficial for researchers and upper undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of human–robot/agent/computer interaction and social touch interaction and those in the broader fields of engineering, computer science, and cognitive science.
Section 1: Introduction
1. Introduction to Social Touch in Human–Robot Interaction
Masahiro Shiomi and Hidenobu Sumioka
Section 2: System Development for Social Touch Interaction
2. Development of Fabric Sensor System toward Natural Pre‑touch and Touch Interaction
Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, Qi An, Ryo Kurazume, and Masahiro Shiomi
3. Application of Fabric Sensors for Soft Robot Hand for Positioning an Object without Touching It
Takashi Takuma, Koki Haruno, Hidenobu Sumioka, and Masahiro Shiomi
4. Wearable Tactile Sensor Suit for Natural Body Dynamics Extraction: Case Study on Posture Prediction Based on Physical Reservoir Computing
Hidenobu Sumioka, Kohei Nakajima, Kurima Sakai, Takashi Minato, and Masahiro Shiomi
5. SŌTO: An Android Platform for Social Touch Interaction
Masahiro Shiomi, Hidenobu Sumioka, Kurima Sakai, Tomo Funayama, and Takashi Minato
Section 3: Modeling Pre-touch Proxemics
6. Implementing Pre‑touch Reaction Distance around Face for a Social Robot
Masahiro Shiomi, Kodai Shatani, Takashi Minato, and Hiroshi Ishiguro
7. Implementing Pre‑touch Reaction Distance around Upper Body Parts for a Social Robot
Dario Alfonso Cuello Mejía, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, and Masahiro Shiomi
8. Comparison of Pre‑touch Reaction Distance between Physical and VR Environments
Dario Alfonso Cuello Mejia, Aoba Saito, Mitsuhiko Kimoto, Takamasa Iio, Katsunori Shimohara, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, and Masahiro Shiomi
Section 4: Interaction Design for Touching and Being Touched
9. Understanding Natural Reaction Time toward Touch
Atsumu Kubota, Mitsuhiko Kimoto, Takamasa Iio, Katsunori Shimohara, and Masahiro Shiomi
10. Communication Cues Effects in Human–Robot Interaction
Takahiro Hirano, Mitsuhiko Kimoto, Takamasa Iio, Katsunori Shimohara, and Masahiro Shiomi
11. Gaze and Height Design for Acceptable Touch Behaviors
Masahiro Shiomi, Takahiro Hirano, Mitsuhiko Kimoto, Takamasa Iio, and Katsunori Shimohara
12. Designing Touch Characteristics to Express Simple Emotions
Xiqian Zheng, Masahiro Shiomi, Takashi Minato, and Hiroshi Ishiguro
13. Modeling Touch Timing and Length to Express Complex Emotions
Xiqian Zheng, Masahiro Shiomi, Takashi Minato, and Hiroshi Ishiguro
Section 5: Behavior Change Effects in Human–Robot Touch Interaction
14. Robot Hugs Encourage Self‑disclosures
Masahiro Shiomi, Aya Nakata, Masayuki Kanbara, and Norihiro Hagita
15. Audio‑Visual Stimuli Improve Both Robot’s Hug Impressions and Stress‑Buffering Effects
Masahiro Shiomi and Norihiro Hagita
16. Praise with Tactile Stimulus Increases Motivation
Higashino Kana, Mitsuhiko Kimoto, Takamasa Iio, Katsunori Shimohara, and Masahiro Shiomi
17. Understanding Self‑Touch Behaviors and Stress‑Buffering Effects
Ayumi Hayashi, Emi Anzai, Naoki Saiwaki, Hidenobu Sumioka, and Masahiro Shiomi
18. Mediated Hug Modulates Impressions of Hearsay Information
Junya Nakanishi, Hidenobu Sumioka, and Hiroshi Ishiguro
19. Multi‑modal Interaction through Anthropomorphically Designed Communication Medium to Enhance the Self‑disclosures of Personal Information
Nobuhiro Jinnai, Hidenobu Sumioka, Takashi Minato, and Hiroshi Ishiguro
Section 6: Applications of Social Touch Interaction
20. A Minimal Design of a Human Infant Presence: A Case Study toward Interactive Doll Therapy for Older Adults with Dementia
Hidenobu Sumioka, Nobuo Yamato, Masahiro Shiomi, and Hiroshi Ishiguro
21. Interactive Baby Robot for Seniors with Dementia: Long‑term Implementation in Nursing Home
Nobuo Yamato, Hidenobu Sumioka, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Youji Kohda, and Masahiro Shiomi
22. A Huggable Device Can Reduce the Stress of Calling a Stranger on the Phone for Individuals with ASD
Hidenobu Sumioka, Hirokazu Kumazaki, Taro Muramatsu, Yuichiro Yoshikawa, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Haruhiro Higashida, Teruko Yuhi, and Masaru Mimura
23. Viewing a Presenter’s Touch Affects the Feeling of Kawaii of Others toward an Object
Yuka Okada, Mitsuhiko Kimoto Takamasa Iio, Katsunori Shimohara, Hiroshi Nittono, and Masahiro Shiomi
Biography
Masahiro Shiomi is a senior research scientist and a group leader of the Agent Interaction Design Laboratory at the Interaction Science Laboratories at ATR, Kyoto, Japan. He is also a visiting professor at Kobe University. He earned an MEng and a PhD in engineering from Osaka University in 2004 and 2007, respectively. He served as a program chair on Ro‑MAN2020, HAI2021, and HRI2022 and as an associate editor for the ACM Transactions on Human–Robot Interaction.
Hidenobu Sumioka is a group leader of Presence Media Research Group in Hiroshi Ishiguro Laboratories, ATR, Kyoto, Japan. He is also a visiting associate professor at Kobe University. He earned a PhD in engineering from Osaka University in 2008.
