Analysis of heart-to-heart communication with robot using transfer entropy

Human robot interaction studies have investigated how various non-verbal expressions of robots can enhance feelings of familiarity and trust in users’ and establish good relationships between users and robots. In the field of art, this approach has been taken one step further by creating robot artworks and demonstrations through which people feel as if they are experiencing heart-to-heart communication with a robot. Although robotic behavior that conveys such a feeling is useful for human coexistence and providing a sense of security and trust, no engineering methodology can yet achieve such behavior. This study attempts to explain what kind of robot behavior is connected to such feelings by analyzing demonstrations of such a robot based on information theory. We found that the intensity of these feelings can be partially explained by transfer entropy between humans and the robot’s body movements. We expect this research to clarify how to design a robot’s behavior so that it can provide heart-to-heart communication with people as well as how to construct a robot that can build solid relationships with people in daily life.