Are Emotions Important? A Study on Social Distances for Path Planning based on Emotions

This study explores the complex dynamics between humans and robots, focusing on how emotional states influence proxemics. We conducted a user study using a standard mobile robot to investigate whether emotions elicited from a loudspeaker, affect human perception of robot proximity. Based on previous research on Human-Human Interaction (HHI), we analysed participants’ responses to robots displaying different behaviours. Participants observed the robot’s approach while experiencing positive or negative emotions. Our findings suggest that emotional states induced by external stimuli can affect participants’ perception of robot proximity. In detail, the results indicate that while comfortable stopping distances were unaffected by participants’ emotional state, individuals who experienced positive emotions judged the same proxemics distance used while performing an avoidance behaviour to be more acceptable compared to the case of negative emotions. This study describes the extent to which our emotions can alter the perception of robot behaviours, ultimately affecting our acceptance of these novel social agents.

I. Introduction

The integration of robots into our social environment goes beyond functional utility; it involves complex interactions with humans but also the possibility of sharing the same space with them without interacting [1]. Indeed, as they become more ubiquitous, the need for them to be both efficient and socially acceptable is becoming increasingly important [2].