Omar Mubin

Does the Design of a Robot Influence Its Animacy and Perceived Intelligence

Robots exhibit life-like behavior by performing intelligent actions. To enhance human-robot interaction it is necessary to investigate and understand how end-users perceive such animate behavior. In this paper, we report an experiment to investigate how people perceived different designs of robot embodiments in terms of animacy and intelligence. iCat and Robovie II were used as the two embodiments in this experiment. We conducted a between-subject experiment where robot type was the independent variable, and perceived animacy and intelligence of the robot were the dependent variables. Our findings suggest that a robot’s perceived intelligence is significantly correlated with animacy. The correlation between the intelligence and the animacy of a robot was observed to be stronger in the case of the iCat embodiment. Our results also indicate that the more animated the face of the robot, the more likely it is to attract the attention of a user. We also discuss the possible and probable explanations of the results obtained.

Designing social games for children and older adults: Two related case studies

Augmented games, aim at promoting social interaction between participating players, as this is considered a major characteristic of any good multi-player game. In this paper, we discuss two related case studies where we investigated various options for enhancing the gaming experience through augmented tabletop games for children and older adults. Later on we also executed an intergenerational case study to inform intergenerational game design where children and elderly played together. Our findings indicate that the use of tangible play in combination with a guessing element in a tabletop game does indeed facilitate social interaction and adds to the aspect of fun. Our results also indicate that senior citizens found the electronic tabletop version of the game to be more immersive and absorbing, as compared to a static paper version. Analyzing the non-verbal behavior of both older adults and children, it was concluded that players were socially more engaged with their opponents than with their team members. This effect was more pronounced in the case of children. We also discuss some implications for social game design that can be deduced from the qualitative feedback provided by our participants.

Designing and evaluating the tabletop game experience for senior citizens

In this paper, we report on the design and evaluation of a tabletop game especially created for senior citizens. The game is intended to provide leisure and fun and is played with four players on an augmented tabletop. It evolved from existing games and rules that are popular and familiar amongst senior citizens. Several aspects that are part of the gaming experience, such as immersion, flow, affect and, challenge, were assessed experimentally. The gaming experience was measured relatively by subjectively comparing user reactions across two sessions, one using a conventional board game and another using a digital tabletop version of the same game. Our results indicate that senior citizens found the tabletop version of the game to be more immersive and absorbing. We also discuss some implications to tabletop game design that can be deduced from the qualitative feedback provided by our participants.

aMAZEd: designing an affective social game for children

This paper discusses a design case, which explores the potential of psychophysiological measures as an input technique for social gaming applications intended for children. aMAZEd is an example of a tabletop mixed reality game that supports social interaction between players through and around the game. It is clear that sensing technology used to obtain psychophysiological measures needs to be improved and there is still a range of solutions that need to be explored. However, our experience shows that psychophysiological input appeals to children and can be a fun element of games supporting social interaction among players.

Affective Tabletop Game: A New Gaming Experience for Children

In this paper, we discuss various options for enhancing the gaming experience in augmented tabletop games. More specifically, we propose to incorporate psychophysiological measurements as a part of the gaming experience, and to integrate a desktop game within its real surrounding (i.e., the entire room) in order to promote more physical activity. Such design options, together with other game rules, aim at promoting social interaction between participating players, as this is considered to be a major characteristic of any good multi-player game. We concretized and informally evaluated the above aspects within a specific tabletop game that we designed for children aged 7 to 11 years. Our findings indicate that psychophysiological feedback in a tabletop game does indeed facilitate social interaction and adds to the fun element. Our results also reveal that children appreciate the involvement of the real world environment in a tabletop game.

Child-robot interaction during collaborative game play: effects of age and gender on emotion and experience

In this paper we investigate how boys and girls of 8 and 12 years old experience interacting with a social robot (iCat) during collaborative game play. The iCat robot and a child collaborated together to play a simple card guessing game. Post-game questionnaires revealed that 8 year old children rated their subjective gaming experience significantly more positively than the 12 year olds. All interactions were recorded, and fragments were shown to judges in a perception experiment, which showed that 8 year olds were more expressive than 12 year olds, and that 12 year old losers were more expressive than 12 year old winners. The implications of these findings for designing child-robot interaction are discussed.

EZ phone: persuading mobile users to conserve energy

El metodo de muestreo por conglomerados puede utilizarse para llevar a cabo la evaluacion rapida de las necesidades de salud y de otro tipo en comunidades afectadas por desastres naturales. El metodo, que se basa en el modelo usado por el Programa Ampliado de Inmunizacion de la OMS para estimar la cobertura con vacunacion, ha sido modificado para que proporcione 1) estimaciones de la poblacion que queda en una zona determinada y 2) estimaciones del numero de personas con necesidades especificas en la zona que ha sido afectada por un desastre. Este enfoque difiere del que se ha usado anteriormente a raiz de otros desastres en que las evaluaciones rapidas de las necesidades solo han consistido en estimar la proporcion de la poblacion con necesidades especificas. Aqui se propone un diseno de encuesta modificado que se basa en el uso de n x k para calcular la poblacion restante, la gravedad del dano, la proporcion y el numero de personas con necesidades especificas, el numero de domicilios danados o destruidos y los cambios que sufren estas estimaciones en determinado periodo como parte de la encuesta.

iParrot: towards designing a persuasive agent for energy conservation

Computational agents can motivate people to change their behaviour towards energy use in a home setting. In this paper, we investigate the desig and evaluation of the iParrot, an intelligent agent that helps to persuade family members to conserve energy in their home. The iParrot was designed as a concept in the form of a video prototype with two conditions. The results from the evaluation show that people will comply with the advice from such an agent for energy conservation if the agent is friendlier. Moreover, participants were able to distinctly perceive the friendliness level for both conditions.

Human Robot Interaction and Fiction: A Contradiction

In this position paper a perspective on how movies and science fiction are currently shaping the design of robots is presented. This analysis includes both behaviour and embodiment in robots. We discuss popular movies that involve robots as characters in their storyline, and how people’s beliefs and expectations are affected by what they see in robot movies. A mismatch or contradiction emerges in what the robots of today can accomplish and what the movies portray. In order to overcome this mismatch we present design implications that may be of benefit to HRI designers.

The perception of animacy and intelligence based on a robot's embodiment

Robots exhibit life-like behavior by performing intelligent actions. To enhance human-robot interaction it is necessary to investigate and understand how end-users perceive such animate behavior. In this paper, we report an experiment to investigate how people perceived different robot embodiments in terms of animacy and intelligence. iCat and Robovie II were used as the two embodiments in this experiment. We conducted a between-subject experiment where robot type was the independent variable, and perceived animacy and intelligence of the robot were the dependent variables. Our findings suggest that a robots perceived intelligence is significantly correlated with animacy. The correlation between the intelligence and the animacy of a robot was observed to be stronger in the case of the iCat embodiment. Our results also indicate that the more animated the face of the robot, the more likely it is to attract the attention of a user. We also discuss the possible and probable explanations of the results obtained.