RoCo is the first robotic computer designed with the ability to move its monitor in subtly expressive ways that respond to and encourage its user’s own postural movement. We use RoCo in a novel user study to explore whether a computer’s “posture” can influence its user’s subsequent posture, and if the interaction of the user’s body state with their affective state during a task leads to improved task
measures such as persistence in problem solving. We believe this is possible in light of new theories that link physical posture and its influence on affect and cognition. RoCo’s posture not only manipulates the user’s posture, but also is associated with hypothesized posture-affect interactions.
Specifically, we found effects on increased persistence on a subsequent cognitive task, and effects on perceived level of comfort.
The design of RoCo is inspired by a series of Human Robot Interaction studies that showed that people frequently mirror the posture of a socially expressive robot when engaged in a social interaction. It is interesting to consider whether a more computer-looking robot with the capability to adjust its “posture” can elicit similar postural mirroring effects during interaction. One potential benefit of introducing increased postural movement into computer use is reduced back pain, where physical movement is recognized as one of the key preventative measures.
- Cynthia Breazeal & Rosalind Picard (2006). “Affective Robotics,” In R. Parasuraman and M. Rizzo (eds.) Neuroergonomics: The Brain at Work, Oxford University Press.
- Andrew Wang (2006), A Physically Animated Desktop Computer for Ergonomic and Affective Movement, May 2006. M. Eng. Department of EECS.
- Hyung-il Ahn, Alea Teeters, Andrew Wang, Cynthia Breazeal, Rosalind Picard (2007). “Stoop to Conquer: Posture and Affect Interact to Influence Computer Users’ Persistence”. Proceedings of Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII07). (Lisbon, Portugal).
- Cynthia Breazeal, Andrew Wang, and Rosalind Picard (2007). “Experiments with a Robotic Computer: Body, Affect and Cognition Interactions”. In Proceeding of the ACM/IEEE international Conference on Human-Robot interaction (Arlington, Virginia, USA, March 10 – 12, 2007). HRI ’07. ACM Press, New York, NY, 153-160.