Favorable reaction of robots coexisting with humans

Abstract

This paper examines the relations between human emotions and the virtual impedance values of the robot experimentally using the rating scale method. In the experiments, 11 subjects added force or impact to the robot and evaluated its reaction by the rating scale method. The evaluations were done on 48 combinations of virtual mass, viscous coefficient, and stiffness. As the results, the emotions being flexible, pleasant, and human-like were explained by a linear regression model of the impedance values and classified into 4 groups from the view point of the contact force and response speed.