Design of a Dog-type Social Robot to Support Children's Reading Activities and Development of a Touch Sensor Module for Users' Touch Interaction

“Read to a Dog” is a program operated in the United Kingdom, the United States, and New Zealand to induce children's interest in reading through children's reading to dogs. This program is a type of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) that uses pets to heal psychological problems, and it can reduce reading rejection and induce interest in reading by providing an environment where children can read confidently and feel comfortable. This study aims to develop a dog-type robot that can be operated in the library based on the research contents of the corresponding “Read to a Dog”. The purpose of this study is to stimulate children's interest in reading through a reading activity support robot, while giving them with an emotional experience of artificial intelligence through robots. Through robot use environment analysis and user analysis, the appearance shape of the robot is designed and the service requirements are defined. In addition, for touch interaction for emotional communication between children and the dog-type robot, this paper proposes a touch sensor technology using a pressure sensor and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) microphone, which can reduce hardware complexity and detect a wide range of touch of a robot.