Semi-autonomous touch method merging robot's autonomous touch and user-operated touch for improving user experience in robot touch.

ABSTRACT: The demand for therapeutic robots to alleviate mental health problems is growing. Studies have shown that people's mental health improves when they are touched. Consequently, therapeutic robots are designed to alleviate stress through robot's autonomous touch. However, robot's autonomous touch can sometimes cause discomfort to recipients. This paper proposes a semi-autonomous touch method that merges robot's autonomous touch with user-operated touch to mitigate discomfort while maintaining the sensation of being touched by another person. We conducted an experiment involving 24 participants who were touched on the neck by robots under three conditions: robot's autonomous touch, user-operated touch, and the proposed semi-autonomous touch method condition. Additionally, the study investigate

SUBMITTER: Mitsuoka R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11291646 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature