Avant-Satie! Using ERIK to encode task-relevant expressivity into the animation of autonomous social robots

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that ERIK, an expressive inverse kinematics method, enables autonomous social robots to effectively communicate expressive cues and influence user actions through non-verbal signals during task execution.

Contribution

It validates ERIK's ability to direct user choices in autonomous robots within a new scenario, extending previous work on its expressive capabilities.

Findings

ERIK successfully influences user decision-making through non-verbal cues

The autonomous Adelino robot effectively uses ERIK for expressive communication

ERIK's expressive control enhances human-robot interaction quality

Abstract

ERIK is an expressive inverse kinematics technique that has been previously presented and evaluated both algorithmically and in a limited user-interaction scenario. It allows autonomous social robots to convey posture-based expressive information while gaze-tracking users. We have developed a new scenario aimed at further validating some of the unsupported claims from the previous scenario. Our experiment features a fully autonomous Adelino robot, and concludes that ERIK can be used to direct a user's choice of actions during execution of a given task, fully through its non-verbal expressive queues.