NumberIII-1-4
Title Evoking Affection for a Communication Partner by a Robotic Communication Medium
Authors Junya Nakanishi (Osaka University)
Kaiko Kuwamura (Osaka University)
Takashi Minato (ATR)
Shuichi Nishio (ATR)
Hiroshi Ishiguro (Osaka University)
Abstract This paper reveals a new effect of robotic communication media that can function as avatars of communication partners. Users interaction with a medium may alter feelings their toward partners. The paper hypothesized that talking while hugging a robotic medium increases romantic feelings or attraction toward a partner in robot-mediated tele-communication. Our experiment used Hugvie, a human-shaped medium, for talking in a hugging state. We found that people subconsciously increased their romantic attraction toward opposite sex partners by hugging Hugvie. This resultant effect is novel because we revealed the effect of user hugging on the user's own feelings instead of being hugged by a partner.
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