Embodiment of a humanoid robot is preserved during partial and delayed control

Object Touch by a Humanoid Robot Avatar Induces Haptic Sensation in the Real Hand

“…This result agrees with a recent proposal that the functional characteristics of a limb are more important than the physical features for embodiment . The finding is also in line with previous studies that suggest that humans are able to embody avatar bodies that depart from the humanoid form (Ahn et al, 2016;Aymerich-Franch, 2012;Aymerich-Franch et al, 2015Kilteni, Normand, Sanchez-Vives, & Slater, 2012;Steptoe, et al, 2013;Won, et al, 2015).…”

“…In this regard, it has been suggested that virtual synesthesia may contribute to increase the sense of presence in virtual reality (Biocca, et al, ) or be used to manipulate perception in order to compensate for missing components of the perceptual experience (Lederman & Jones, ). To investigate this issue, we used a setup developed by Aymerich‐Franch and colleagues for whole‐body humanoid robot embodiment (Aymerich‐Franch, Petit, Ganesh, & Kheddar, ). Embodiment in robot avatars has emerged as a form of mediated embodiment (Aymerich‐Franch, et al ; Aymerich‐Franch, Petit, Ganesh, & Kheddar, ; Becker‐Asano, Arras, Nebel, & Ishiguro, ; Cohen et al, ; Kishore et al, ) that follows similar principles to those used in virtual reality to induce a sense of embodiment of the avatar body.…”

“…To investigate this issue, we used a setup developed by Aymerich‐Franch and colleagues for whole‐body humanoid robot embodiment (Aymerich‐Franch, Petit, Ganesh, & Kheddar, ). Embodiment in robot avatars has emerged as a form of mediated embodiment (Aymerich‐Franch, et al ; Aymerich‐Franch, Petit, Ganesh, & Kheddar, ; Becker‐Asano, Arras, Nebel, & Ishiguro, ; Cohen et al, ; Kishore et al, ) that follows similar principles to those used in virtual reality to induce a sense of embodiment of the avatar body. In order to elicit a sense of embodiment to the robot body in the current study, we provided participants with a head‐mounted display (HMD) that gave them first person visual feedback from the robot perspective.…”

“…While a resemblance of the shape of an artificial limb or body to a human body helps increase the sense of embodiment (Haans, IJsselsteijn, & de Kort, ), previous studies suggest that humans are also able to experience non‐human looking avatar and robot bodies as their own (Ahn, et al, ; Aymerich‐Franch, ; Aymerich‐Franch et al, , , ; Steptoe, Steed, & Slater, ; Won, Bailenson, Lee, & Lanier, ). Thus, we hypothesized that an anthropomorphic limb is not essential for embodiment (Aymerich‐Franch & Ganesh, ), and that a non‐anthropomorphic limb can induce illusory haptic perceptions provided that a sense of embodiment is induced towards it.…”

The role of functionality in the body model for self-attribution

“…On the other hand, spatial congruency between the self and the body can be disrupted in full-body illusions involving one's own body seen from a different perspective (Ehrsson, 2007;Lenggenhager et al, 2007), mannequins (Guterstam and Ehrsson, 2012), virtual body (Lenggenhager et al, 2007) and robots (Nishio et al, 2012;Alimardani et al, 2013;Aymerich-Franch et al, 2015). Studies in virtual reality have also explored a related phenomena of Presence (Heeter, 1992;Steuer, 1992;Lombard and Ditton, 1997;Lee, 2004), which refers to the feeling of "being there", in the virtual world (Lombard and Ditton, 1997), and self-presence, a subdimension of Presence which describes the state in which the virtual self is experienced as the actual self (Lee, 2004;Ratan, 2010).…”