Robotic Stroke Motion Following the Shape of the Human Back: Motion Generation and Psychological Effects

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new trajectory generation method for robotic back-stroke motions that mimic human shape-following strokes, enhancing psychological well-being compared to traditional linear motions.

Contribution

It proposes a shape-based trajectory generation method for robotic strokes and demonstrates its effectiveness in psychological impact through experiments.

Findings

Trajectory accuracy close to human strokes

Shape-following strokes evoke more pleasant feelings

Enhanced psychological effects compared to linear strokes

Abstract

In this study, to perform the robotic stroke motions following the shape of the human back similar to the stroke motions by humans, in contrast to the conventional robotic stroke motion with a linear trajectory, we propose a trajectory generation method for a robotic stroke motion following the shape of the human back. We confirmed that the accuracy of the method's trajectory was close to that of the actual stroking motion by a human. Furthermore, we conducted a subjective experiment to evaluate the psychological effects of the proposed stroke motion in contrast to those of the conventional stroke motion with a linear trajectory. The experimental results showed that the actual stroke motion following the shape of the human back tended to evoke more pleasant and active feelings than the conventional stroke motion.