Daily Note: Human-Robot Interaction Through Expressive Movements

These notes are a summary of concepts presented in “ELEGNT: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-Anthropomorphic Robot.”

Yuhan Hu, Peide Huang, Mouli Sivapurapu, and Jian Zhang. 2018. ELEGNT: Expressive and Functional Movement Design for Non-anthropomorphic Robot. In Proceedings of Designing Interactive Systems (Conference DIS’25). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 13 pages. https://doi.org/XXXXXXX.XXXXXXX

  1. Introduction
    • Robots communicate with humans using movements to express intentions, attention, and emotions
    • Social value in robotic design, even for practical tasks
    • Expressive movements enrich human-robot interaction by fostering empathy, trust, and a sense of connection
  2. Benefits of Expressive Movements
    • Help humans anticipate robot actions, build trust, and foster comfort
    • Enhance collaboration and engagement in human-robot interactions
  3. Dimensions of Robot Agency and Tasks
    • Social vs. functional tasks
    • Proactive (robot-initiated) vs. reactive (user-initiated) interactions
  4. Robotic Forms and Affordances
    • Categories
      • Anthropomorphic (human-like), zoomorphic (animal-like), and appliance-like
    • Dynamic affordances
      • Movements cue potential actions and interactions
  5. Expressive Communication Through Movement
    • Movement as a medium for conveying emotions, intentions, and narratives
    • Theory of Mind
      • Inferring intentions from observed behaviors
  6. Key Components of the Lamp Robot
    • 6-DOF robotic arm, lamp head, LED light, laser projector, internal/external cameras, and voice system
    • Designed for illumination, user activity support, and assistive projections
  7. Expression-Driven Movements and Design Primitives
    • Spatial
      • Metaphorical gestures to convey states
    • Temporal
      • Speed, pauses, and acceleration for emotions and attitudes
    • Proxemics
      • Spatial distance to manage relationships and boundaries
      • Static – positioning to signal attention and intention
      • Dynamic – movements to express attitudes or intentions
  8. Primary Tasks of the Lamp Robot
    • Function-Oriented
      • Assistant-like behavior for task support (e.g., lighting, reminders)
    • Social-oriented
      • Companion-like behavior for entertainment and engagement
  9. Measuring Interaction Effectiveness
    • Metrics
      • Human-likeliness, perceived intelligence, and emotion/character
      • Interaction engagement, sense of connection, and willingness to use the robot
  10. Design Considerations
    • Complement functional movements with expressive gestures for harmony
    • Align expressive motions with the robot’s embodiment and capabilities