Robot Touch to Send Sympathy: Divergent Perspectives of Senders and Recipients
summary
Two online studies use a MyCobot arm covered with a soft fuzzy sock to show imagined robot-mediated sympathy across the US and Japan with 341 senders and 340 recipients. Senders prefer short text and GIFs and choose patting and rubbing the shoulder most often, while recipients report more perceived sympathy and social support from robot touch than from short text—only when they interpret the touch as coming from their friend. Studies are imagined interactions; next step is in-person touch trials.
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