Influence of Watching TV Programs on Human Recognition of a Robot's Emotions

Abstract

Watching TV with family and friends makes the experience more enjoyable. We have been conducting research and development of a communication robot ("TV watching companion robot") that can give the joy and pleasure of watching TV with multiple people, even when watching TV alone. Herein, we investigate how emotions are conveyed to the viewer when the viewer watches TV with a robot, using a TV watching companion robot with nine types of emotional body movements developed. Consequently, we confirmed that the presence of a TV program facilitated the transmission of seven types of emotions. It was also confirmed that emotional body movements improved empathy for the program.