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Underlying mechanisms of speech perception masked by background speakers, a common daily listening condition, are often investigated using various and lengthy psychophysical tests. The presence of a social agent, such as an interactive…
Socially Assistive Robots are studied in different Child-Robot Interaction settings. However, logistical constraints limit accessibility, particularly affecting timely support for mental wellbeing. In this work, we have investigated whether…
The paper reports an empirical study of the effect of human treatment of a robot on the social perception of the robot's behavior. The study employed an enacted interaction between an anthropomorphic "waiter" robot and two customers. The…
Loneliness and stress are prevalent among young adults and are linked to significant psychological and health-related consequences. Social robots may offer a promising avenue for emotional support, especially when considering the ongoing…
The increased interest in developing next-gen social robots has raised questions about the factors affecting the perception of robot emotions. This study investigates the impact of robot appearances (humanlike, mechanical) and face regions…
In the context of our research activities on affective computing and human-robot interaction we are working on both the recognition of human's emotions and the expression of emotions by robots. In our vision, robots will be increasingly…
This paper describes a between-subjects Amazon Mechanical Turk study (n = 220) that investigated how a robot's affective narrative influences its ability to elicit empathy in human observers. We first conducted a pilot study to develop and…
Service robots are increasingly deployed in public spaces, performing functional tasks such as making deliveries. To better integrate them into our social environment and enhance their adoption, we consider integrating social identities…
In recent years, robotics has evolved, placing robots in social contexts, and giving rise to Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). HRI aims to improve user satisfaction by designing autonomous social robots with user modeling functionalities and…
How human-like do conversational robots need to look to enable long-term human-robot conversation? One essential aspect of long-term interaction is a human's ability to adapt to the varying degrees of a conversational partner's engagement…
Personality has been identified as a vital factor in understanding the quality of human robot interactions. Despite this the research in this area remains fragmented and lacks a coherent framework. This makes it difficult to understand what…
This study presents a novel robot-led approach to assessing children's mental wellbeing using a Vision Language Model (VLM). Inspired by the Child Apperception Test (CAT), the social robot NAO presented children with pictorial stimuli to…
Social robots need intelligence in order to safely coexist and interact with humans. Robots without functional abilities in understanding others and unable to empathise might be a societal risk and they may lead to a society of socially…
Collaborative interactions require social robots to adapt to the dynamics of human affective behaviour. Yet, current approaches for affective behaviour generation in robots focus on instantaneous perception to generate a one-to-one mapping…
Nonverbal behaviors, particularly gaze direction, play a crucial role in enhancing effective communication in social interactions. As social robots increasingly participate in these interactions, they must adapt their gaze based on human…
As social service robots become commonplace, it is essential for them to effectively interpret human signals, such as verbal, gesture, and eye gaze, when people need to focus on their primary tasks to minimize interruptions and…
Loneliness is a distressing personal experience and a growing social issue. Social robots could alleviate the pain of loneliness, particularly for those who lack in-person interaction. This paper investigated how the effect of loneliness on…
This paper presents the first study in a series of proxemics experiments concerned with the role of personal spatial zones in human-robot interaction. In the study 40 participants approached a NAO robot positioned approximately at…
The paper presents an experiment on the effects of adaptive emotional alignment between agents, considered a prerequisite for empathic communication, in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Using the NAO robot, we investigate the impact of an…
Humans and robots are increasingly working in personal and professional settings. In workplace settings, humans and robots may work together as colleagues, potentially leading to social expectations, or violation thereof. Extant research…