Related papers: Developing Autonomous Robot-Mediated Behavior Coac…
Social robots aim to establish long-term bonds with humans through engaging conversation. However, traditional conversational approaches, reliant on scripted interactions, often fall short in maintaining engaging conversations. This paper…
Social robots and conversational agents are being explored as supports for wellbeing, goal-setting, and everyday self-regulation. While prior work highlights their potential to motivate and guide users, much of the evidence relies on…
Trust plays a central role in human--robot collaboration, yet its formation is rarely examined under the constraints of fully autonomous interaction. This pilot study investigated how interaction policy influences trust during in-person…
Integrating generative AI such as Large Language Models into social robots has improved their ability to engage in natural, human-like communication. This study presents a method to examine their persuasive capabilities. We designed an…
Beyond mere formality, small talk plays a pivotal role in social dynamics, serving as a verbal handshake for building rapport and understanding. For conversational AI and social robots, the ability to engage in small talk enhances their…
Inner Speech is an essential but also elusive human psychological process which refers to an everyday covert internal conversation with oneself. We argue that programming a robot with an overt self-talk system, which simulates human inner…
This paper presents the iterative development of Habit Coach, a GPT-based chatbot designed to support users in habit change through personalized interaction. Employing a user-centered design approach, we developed the chatbot using a…
Social robots are increasingly applied as health behavior change interventions, yet actionable knowledge to guide their design and evaluation remains limited. This systematic review synthesizes (1) the behavior change strategies used in…
Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder find robots easier to communicate with than humans. Thus, robots have been introduced in autism therapies. However, due to the environmental complexity, the used robots often have to be controlled…
In our everyday lives we are accustomed to partake in complex, personalized, adaptive interactions with our peers. For a social robot to be able to recreate this same kind of rich, human-like interaction, it should be aware of our needs and…
To facilitate effective human-robot interaction (HRI), trust-aware HRI has been proposed, wherein the robotic agent explicitly considers the human's trust during its planning and decision making. The success of trust-aware HRI depends on…
Small talk can foster rapport building in human-human teamwork; yet how non-anthropomorphic robots, such as collaborative manipulators commonly used in industry, may capitalize on these social communications remains unclear. This work…
This research investigates the impact of social robot participation in group conversations and assesses the effectiveness of various addressing policies. The study involved 300 participants, divided into groups of four, interacting with a…
Turn-taking is a fundamental aspect of conversation, but current Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) systems often rely on simplistic, silence-based models, leading to unnatural pauses and interruptions. This paper investigates, for the first…
We are developing a system for human-robot communication that enables people to communicate with robots in a natural way and is focused on solving problems in a shared space. Our strategy for developing this system is fundamentally…
Dialogic learning fosters motivation and deeper understanding in education through purposeful and structured dialogues. Foundational models offer a transformative potential for child-robot interactions, enabling the design of personalized,…
Service robots need to show appropriate social behaviour in order to be deployed in social environments such as healthcare, education, retail, etc. Some of the main capabilities that robots should have are navigation and conversational…
Robot-moderated group discussions have the potential to facilitate engaging and productive interactions among human participants. Previous work on topic management in conversational agents has predominantly focused on human engagement and…
From dating to job interviews, making new friends or simply chatting with the cashier at checkout, engaging in small talk is a vital, everyday social skill. For adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), small talk can be particularly…
Turn-taking is a crucial aspect of human-robot interaction, directly influencing conversational fluidity and user engagement. While previous research has explored turn-taking models in controlled environments, their robustness in real-world…