Modeling a Pre-Touch Reaction Distance around Socially Touchable Upper Body Parts of a Robot

Mejía, Dario Alfonso Cuello; Sumioka, Hidenobu; Ishiguro, Hiroshi; Shiomi, Masahiro

doi:10.3390/app11167307

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 54 publications

(87 reference statements)

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“…Although some studies identified a difference in how the same and different genders manage personal space ( Heshka and Nelson, 1972 ) and how they interact with human-looking agents as a before-touch reaction around the face ( Shiomi et al, 2018 ), other studies concluded that gender made no difference in such preferences. For example, when analyzing the minimum comfortable distance for socially-touchable body parts in human interaction for implementation in a humanoid robot, gender did not affect the obtained values ( Cuello Mejía et al, 2021 ). Also, in a virtual reality environment, this minimum distance around the face was not strongly affected by the gender of the avatar or the participant ( Mejía et al, 2021 ).…”

Section: Results and Discussion For Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the avatar reaction, we implemented a face-looking reaction behavior at a certain distance from the participant’s hand, based on the previous work ( Cuello Mejía et al, 2021 ). In a previous study, pre-touch reaction distances were obtained for socially-touchable upper body parts: shoulders (24.8 cm), elbows (24.1 cm), and hands (21.5 cm) based on human interactions.…”

Section: Materials and Methods For Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the findings of previous related studies ( Cuello Mejía et al, 2021 ; Mejía et al, 2021 ), where gender did not significantly affect the results and also considering our results in Experiment 1, we removed the gender factor. Therefore, for Experiment 2, we used an avatar of the same gender as the participant.…”

Section: Materials and Methods For Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Few studies have defined avatar behaviors for before-touch interactions. Some research defined a pre-touch reaction distance that determines which body parts are socially touchable in the physical world ( Cuello Mejía et al, 2021 ). Yet the same problem remains: how should an avatar behave when it attempts a touch interaction?…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, some studies defined a pre-touch reaction distance for the face in both the real world with a human-like robot ( Shiomi et al, 2018 ) and in a virtual reality environment with a human-like agent ( Mejía et al, 2021 ). Another study analyzed human interaction and defined pre-touch distances for socially touchable upper body parts ( Cuello Mejía et al, 2021 ). These studies defined the distances for each socially-accepted body part for touch interactions without considering how the agent should react before a touch interaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluating gaze behaviors as pre-touch reactions for virtual agents

Mejía

Sumioka²,

Ishiguro³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

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BackgroundReaction behaviors by human-looking agents to nonverbal communication cues significantly affect how they are perceived as well as how they directly affect interactions. Some studies have evaluated such reactions toward several interactions, although few approached before-touch situations and how the agent’s reaction is perceived. Specifically, it has not been considered how pre-touch reactions impact the interaction, the influence of gaze behavior in a before-touch situation context and how it can condition the participant’s perception and preferences in the interaction. The present study investigated the factors that define pre-touch reactions in a humanoid avatar in a virtual reality environment and how they influence people’s perceptions of the avatars.MethodsWe performed two experiments to assess the differences between approaches from inside and outside the field of view (FoV) and implemented four different gaze behaviors: face-looking, hand-looking, face-then-hand looking and hand-then-face looking behaviors. We also evaluated the participants’ preferences based on the perceived human-likeness, naturalness, and likeability. In Experiment 1, we evaluated the number of steps in gaze behavior, the order of the gaze-steps and the gender; Experiment 2 evaluated the number and order of the gaze-steps.ResultsA two-step gaze behavior was perceived as more human and more natural from both inside and outside the field of view and that a face-first looking behavior when defining only a one-step gaze movement was preferable to hand-first looking behavior from inside the field of view. Regarding the location from where the approach was performed, our results show that a relatively complex gaze movement, including a face-looking behavior, is fundamental for improving the perceptions of agents in before-touch situations.DiscussionThe inclusion of gaze behavior as part of a possible touch interaction is helpful for developing more responsive avatars and gives another communication channel for increasing the immersion and enhance the experience in Virtual Reality environments, extending the frontiers of haptic interaction and complementing the already studied nonverbal communication cues.

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Section: Results and Discussion For Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials and Methods For Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Materials and Methods For Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Evaluating gaze behaviors as pre-touch reactions for virtual agents

Mejía

Sumioka²,

Ishiguro³

et al. 2023

Front. Psychol.

Self Cite

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Effects of appearance and gender on pre-touch proxemics in virtual reality

et al. 2023

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Virtual reality (VR) environments are increasingly popular for various applications, and the appearance of virtual characters is a critical factor that influences user behaviors. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of avatar and agent appearances on pre-touch proxemics in VR. To achieve this goal, we designed experiments utilizing three user avatars (man/woman/robot) and three virtual agents (man/woman/robot). Specifically, we measured the pre-touch reaction distances to the face and body, which are the distances at which a person starts to feel uncomfortable before being touched. We examined how these distances varied based on the appearances of avatars, agents, and user gender. Our results revealed that the appearance of avatars and agents significantly impacted pre-touch reaction distances. Specifically, those using a female avatar tended to maintain larger distances before their face and body to be touched, and people also preferred greater distances before being touched by a robot agent. Interestingly, we observed no effects of user gender on pre-touch reaction distances. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of VR systems, as they suggest that avatar and agent appearances play a significant role in shaping users’ perceptions of pre-touch proxemics. Our study highlights the importance of considering these factors when creating immersive and socially acceptable VR experiences.

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