John-John Cabibihan

Combining Robotic Persuasive Strategies: The Persuasive Power of a Storytelling Robot that Uses Gazing and Gestures

Earlier theorizing suggested that an (artificial) agent that combines persuasive strategies will be more persuasive. Therefore, the current research investigated whether a robot that uses two persuasive strategies is more persuasive than a robot that uses only one. Two crucial persuasive strategies that humans use in face-to-face persuasion are gazing and gestures, and therefore we studied the combined and individual contribution of these two persuasive strategies (gestures and gazing) on the persuasiveness of a storytelling robot. A robot told a classical persuasive story about the consequences of lying to forty-eight participants, and was programmed to use (persuasive) gestures (or not) and gazing (or not). Next, we asked participants to evaluate the character in the story thereby assessing the robot’s persuasiveness. Results presented evidence a robot’s persuasiveness is increased when gazing is used. When the robot used gestures, its persuasiveness only increased when it also used gazing. When the robot did not use gazing, using gestures diminished the robot’s persuasiveness. We discuss the implications for theory and design of robots that are more persuasive.

Reduced graphene oxide filled poly(dimethyl siloxane) based transparent stretchable, and touch-responsive sensors

The ongoing revolution in touch panel technology and electronics demands the need for thin films, which are flexible, stretchable, conductive, and highly touch responsive. In this regard, conductive elastomer nanocomposites offer potential solutions for these stipulations; however, viability is limited to the poor dispersion of conductive nanomaterials such as graphene into the matrix. Here, we fabricated a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) elastomer based transparent and flexible conductive touch responsive film by dispersing rGO honeycombs uniformly into PDMS elastomer through an ionic liquid (IL) modification. Pursuing a simple, scalable, and safe method of solution casting, this provides a versatile and creative design of a transparent and stretchable rGO/IL-PDMS capacitive touch responsive, where rGO acts as a sensing element. This transparent film with ∼70% transmittance exhibits approximately a five times faster response in comparison to rGO/PDMS film, with negligible degradation over time. The performance of this touch screen film is expected to have applications in the emerging field of foldable electronics.

Effects of the Artificial Skin's Thickness on the Subsurface Pressure Profiles of Flat, Curved, and Braille Surfaces

The primary interface of contact between a robotic or prosthetic hand and the external world is through the artificial skin. To make sense of that contact, tactile sensors are needed. These sensors are normally embedded in soft synthetic materials for protecting the subsurface sensor from damage or for better hand-to-object contact. It is important to understand how the mechanical signals transmit from the artificial skin to the embedded tactile sensors. In this paper, we made use of a finite element model of an artificial fingertip with viscoelastic and hyperelastic behaviors to investigate the subsurface pressure profiles when flat, curved, and Braille surfaces were indented on the surface of the model. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of 1, 3, and 5 mm thickness of the skin on the subsurface pressure profiles. The simulation results were experimentally validated using a 25.4 μm thin pressure detecting film that was able to follow the contours of a non-planar surface, which is analogous to an artificial bone. Results show that the thickness of the artificial skin has an effect on the peak pressure, on the span of the pressure distribution, and on the overall shape of the pressure profile that was encoded on a curved subsurface structure. Furthermore, the flat, curved, and Braille surfaces can be discriminated from one another with the 1 and 3 mm artificial skin layers, but not with the 5 mm thick skin.

Microtron Irradiation Induced Tuning of Band Gap and Photoresponse of Al-ZnO Thin Films Synthesized by mSILAR

Al-doped polycrystalline nano ZnO (Al-ZnO) thin films with different doping concentrations were successfully prepared by the microwave-assisted successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (mSILAR) technique. The structural analysis along with the orientation of the prepared films was examined by powder x-ray diffraction (PXRD) patterns. The deposited film is polycrystalline and the (002) orientation enhanced upon doping. Additional investigations were carried out to study the effect of electron beam irradiation (e−-irradiation) on the band gap and photoconductivity of both irradiated and unirradiated samples. Both the Al doping and e−-irradiation led to the enhancement of the photoconductivity of prepared materials. This property enables us to tune the properties of materials for various applications by controlling dopant concentrations and e−-irradiation. The dependence of photocurrent on e−-irradiation of Al-ZnO thin films was not reported previously. Therefore, Al-doped polycrystalline nano-ZnO thin film is a promising material for band gap engineering and for the development of solar cells.

Humans are Well Tuned to Detecting Agents Among Non-agents: Examining the Sensitivity of Human Perception to Behavioral Characteristics of Intentional Systems

For efficient social interactions, humans have developed means to predict and understand others’ behavior often with reference to intentions and desires. To infer others’ intentions, however, one must assume that the other is an agent with a mind and mental states. With two experiments, this study examined if the human perceptual system is sensitive to detecting human agents, based on only subtle behavioral cues. Participants observed robots, which performed pointing gestures interchangeably to the left or right with one of their two arms. Onset times of the pointing movements could have been pre-programmed, human-controlled (Experiment 1), or modeled after a human behavior (Experiment 2). The task was to determine if the observed behavior was controlled by a human or by a computer program, without any information about what parameters of behavior this judgment should be based on. Results showed that participants were able to detect human behavior above chance in both experiments. Moreover, participants were asked to discriminate a letter (F/T) presented on the left or the right side of a screen. The letter could have been either validly cued by the robot (location that the robot pointed to coincided with the location of the letter) or invalidly cued (the robot pointed to the opposite location than the letter was presented). In this cueing task, target discrimination was better for the valid versus invalid conditions in Experiment 1 where a human face was presented centrally on a screen throughout the experiment. This effect was not significant in Experiment 2 where participants were exposed only to a robotic face. In sum, present results show that the human perceptual system is sensitive to subtleties of human behavior. Attending to where others attend, however, is modulated not only by adopting the Intentional Stance but also by the way participants interpret the observed stimuli.

Physiological Responses to Affective Tele-Touch during Induced Emotional Stimuli

The human touch has long been recognized to promote physical, emotional, social, and spiritual comfort. There are situations, however, when touch cannot be exchanged. Although mobile phones and web-based communication are ubiquitous, touch—a communication modality that conveys powerful messages—is inexistent in modern communications media. This paper describes a tele-touch device that transfers affective touch to another person through the internet. Commands for vibration, warmth, and tickle were sent over the internet to a haptic device at the subjects’ forearm. With a heart rate (HR) monitor and a galvanic skin response (GSR) sensor, the physiological effect of the tele-touch device was evaluated as the subjects watched an emotionally-laden movie. We compared these to one group of subjects who were touched by their spouse or girlfriend and to subjects of a control group where no touch was provided. Results show that the HR of the subjects with the tele-touch device was not significantly different from those subjects who were touched by their loved ones. These results were in contrast to the subjects who were not provided with any form of touch. On the other hand, the GSR results revealed that all the three touch conditions were different from one another.

Using robot animation to promote gestural skills in children with autism spectrum disorders

School-aged children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have delayed gestural development, in comparison with age-matched typically developing children. In this study, an intervention program taught children with low-functioning ASD gestural comprehension and production using video modelling (VM) by a computer-generated robot animation. Six to 12-year-old children with ASD (N = 20; IQ < 70) were taught to recognize 20 gestures produced by the robot animation (phase I), to imitate these gestures (phase II) and to produce them in appropriate social contexts (phase III). Across the three phases, significant differences were found between the results of the pretest and the immediate and follow-up posttests; the results of both posttests were comparable, after controlling for the childrens motor and visual memory skills. The children generalized their acquired gestural skills to a novel setting with a human researcher. These results suggest that VM by a robot animation is effective in teaching children with low-functioning ASD to recognize and produce gestures. Lay DescriptionWhat is already known about this topic: Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have difficulties with nonverbal communication. Children with ASD have difficulties in recognizing and producing gestures. What this paper adds: A multiphase therapeutic intervention program using video modelling (VM) of robot animation is effective to promoting the gestural communication skills, both recognition and production, in children with low-functioning ASD. Children with ASD have improved their skills to recognize the taught gestures (phase I), imitate them (phase II) and produce them in appropriate social contexts (phase III). Children with ASD are able to generalize the acquired skills to human-to-human interactions after the intervention program. Implications for practice and/or policy: VM of a robot animation is effective in teaching children with low-functioning ASD both gesture recognition and gesture production. The multiphase therapeutic intervention protocol can be recommended for clinicians or teachers in special schools to teach children with low-functioning ASD gestural communication skills.

Social Robotics through an Anticipatory Governance Lens

Social Robotics is an emerging field, with many applications envisioned. Scientific and technological advancements constantly impact humans on the individual and societal level. Therefore one question increasingly debated is how to anticipate the impact of a given envisioned, emerging or new scientific or technological development and how to govern the emergence of scientific and technological advancements. Anticipatory governance has as a goal to discuss potential issues arising at the ground level of the emergence of a given scientific and technological product. Our study investigated a) the visibility of the anticipatory governance concept within the social robotic discourse and b) the implication of anticipatory governance for the social robotics field through the lens of a social robot design process and key documents from the UNESCO/ICSU 1999 World Conference on Sciences the lens. Our findings suggest that a) anticipatory governance is not a concept established within the social robotics fields so far; b) that social robotics as specific field is not engaged with within the anticipatory governance field and c) that many professional and academic fields are not yet involved in the social robotics discourse as aren’t many non-academic stakeholders. We posit that anticipatory governance can strengthen the social robotics field.

Microton irradiation induced tuning of dielectric properties of nano ZnO–natural rubber disks

The effect of electron beam irradiation of dielectric and conductivity properties of nano ZnO–natural rubber (NR) disks was investigated here. It is revealed that electric properties such as AC conductivity, dielectric constant, and loss tangent of the irradiated samples were improved significantly as compared to the non-irradiated samples, which have been associated with defects in the composites. The total number of dipoles was generated inside the polymer matrix upon irradiation depends on the dislocations formed inside the matrix. From the experiments, we observe that in the amorphous region electron beam irradiation fetches crosslinking and breakdown at the same time. The enhancement of the dielectric and conductivity properties demonstrates that nano ZnO–NR disks will be a promising candidate for the optoelectronic industry. Finally, we also examined the influences of temperature on the electrical conductivity of irradiated samples.

A Flexible Gastric Gas Sensor Based on Functionalized Optical Fiber

We present a gastric gas sensor based on conjoined dual optical fibers functionalized with sensitive optical dyes for sensing gases in both fluidic and gaseous environments. The sensor aims to sense various concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and ammonia (NH3), which are two significant biomarkers of H. pylori infection in the stomach. It is known that CO2 and NH3 are released during the hydrolysis of urea by H. pylori, a bacterium that may cause stomach cancer with relatively high probability. CO2 and NH3 sensitive optical dyes, cresol red ion pair and zinc tetraphenylporphyrin, are embedded in silica beads and then functionalized onto the thin PDMS-coated fiber tip. Each type of dye provides a unique spectral emission response when excited with light ranging from 450 to 700 nm. Two SMA connector legs of the as-functionalized sensor are connected to an external light source for illumination and a ultraviolet-visible-near infrared (UV-Vis-NIR) spectrometer for signal collection/readout. To perform the measurements, one fiber illuminates while the other fiber collects the back-scattered light and feeds it to the UV-Vis-NIR spectrometer to measure the change in light spectrum as a function of CO2 or NH3 concentration. This method is easy and flexible and achieves ppm level sensitivity to targeted gas analytes. The proposed sensor can be integrated into a customized tethered capsule for adjunctive diagnosis of H. pylori infection to improve the accuracy of visual endoscopic inspection.