Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a research area of understanding, designing, and evaluating social robots for use by or with humans, respectively. A social robot consists of a physical robot hardware component to interact with humans connected through a network infrastructure as a cyber-physical computing system supported with Cloud services. The Uncanny Valley theory describes the disturbing effect of imperfect human likenesses that have dominated HRI. Referring to the Uncanny Valley, social robots usually constitute a form of anthropomorphism or zoomorphism. For example, social robots typically behave like humans or animals, such as mimicry of human/animal behavior and emotional expression, with speech, gestures, movements, and eye-gaze features. Prior research found that it is much easier for an embodied humanoid robot with emotional expression to gain users' trust to release personal information than a disembodied interactive kiosk. The applicant requests funds for a large-scale Three-dimensional (3D) printer and a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine to create 3D deformable zoomorphic body parts through a layering method. Using both a CNC machine and a 3D printer will significantly improve the training of High-Quality Personnel (HQP). In addition, the equipment will help to transform their designs of zoomorphic body parts built on simulation software to complex material prototypes, whether it is Polylactic Acid (PLA) in the 3D printer or any material used on the CNC such as wood or metals. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the applicant's research team had designed and built a prototype deformable four-legged platform with a mechanical tail to express emotions using plasterboards, mechanical parts, computer hardware, and software. According to the Uncanny Valley theory, we plan to build a series of medium-to-large scale deformable zoomorphic body parts based on the four-legged platform, such as a foal and a dog. We will focus on emotional expression and human engagement for HRI. Emotions are an essential component of human cognition and behavior caused by an identifiable source, such as an event or seeing emotions in other people. Emotions are necessary to either promote or threaten the survival of different situations that people encounter. We will develop the zoomorphic body parts for behavioral responses, help in decision-making, and facilitate human engagement. Referring to a study report called "Pandemic makes people more open to social robots" by the University of Waterloo in 2020, the researchers found that Canadians would purchase a robot with the ability to show emotion for companionship after the pandemic. The report also showed that social robots could reduce severe isolation effects during the pandemic. It is a time for Canadian researchers to work on different zoomorphic robots with emotional expressions in HRI.