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Human-Animal Companionship: Design Affordances for Communicating with Robots

Sun, Yuanhang
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5128-8591
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1554374295597594

Abstract Details

2019, MDES, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Design.
This dissertation addresses the emergence of emotional involvement in interaction with social robots. More specifically, the author investigates the dynamics of human bonding with robotic pets to design affordances to improve people’s experience of communicating with robots. Robotic pets are robots that mimic real pets like dogs or cats, both in appearance and in behaviour. The aim of this study is to propose new guidelines to inspire designing robotic pets. Through analyzing people’s behaviours toward robotic pets, the author proposes a framework of design suggestions that are considered to be suggestive for building positive relationships with human beings. The research methodology applied in this thesis was mostly qualitative research. Diary research of adopting a robotic pet for 7 days was conducted to collect data. A survey of measuring participants’ overall experience with the robotic pet was released. Based on the participants’ interactions with the robotic pet, the author did an analysis to learn interaction behaviours which correlate with the companionship level of human and robots. A behavioral analysis with an emphasis on the interactional surface and particularly on the sequences of dyad’s reciprocal exchange is presented. The outcomes are twofold: 1. the ethograms and coding schemes of JoyForAll’s and people’s behaviours and a higher-level categorization of behaviours involved in bond forming that can be applied to other platforms and users. 2. The diary template practiced in this research has values in the Human-Robot Interaction research field. This research presents a novel model of bonding with robotic pets inspired in the human-animal affiliation and particularly in human-pet relatedness, where bonding is envisaged as a process towards companionship that evolves through three stages –first impression, short-term interaction and lasting relationship- characterized by distinguishable patterns of behaviours, cognitions, and feelings that can be identified and measured.
Claudia Rebola, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Heekyoung Jung, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
219 p.
Design
Robotics; Human-Animal relationship; Human-Robot Interaction; Behavior; Pet; Design Research

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sun, Y. (2019). Human-Animal Companionship: Design Affordances for Communicating with Robots [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1554374295597594

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sun, Yuanhang. Human-Animal Companionship: Design Affordances for Communicating with Robots. 2019. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1554374295597594.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sun, Yuanhang. "Human-Animal Companionship: Design Affordances for Communicating with Robots." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1554374295597594

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1554374295597594
157
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.