The evaluation of affection in human-robot interaction

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose a novel method for evaluation of human-robot affection. The model is inspired by the scientific methods of human-human love evaluation. This paper would benefit the researchers in the field of developing new technologies where emotional interaction is involved. Design/methodology/approach - Among the two available options of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and user study, the latter is adopted and the conventional method of Love Attitude Scale is transformed for human-robot interaction as Lovotics (love + robotics) Love Attitude Scale. A user study is conducted to evaluate the emotional effect of interaction with the robot. Findings - The proposed method is employed in order to evaluate the performance of Lovotics robot. In total, 20 users experienced interaction with Lovotics robot and answered questionnaires which were designed based on the psychology of love, especially to measure love scales between the participants and the robot. Data from the user study are analyzed statistically to evaluate the overall performance of the designed robot. Research limitations/implications - Various aspects including human to robot love styles, robot to human love styles, overall love values and gender study are investigated during the data analysis. The concept of human-robot affection is still in initial stage of development. Personal and social robots are increasing and much limitation from artificial intelligence, mechanical development and integration still exist. Practical implications - This is a multidisciplinary research field utilizing fundamentals concepts from robotics, artificial intelligence, philosophy, psychology, biology, anthropology, neuroscience, social science, computer science and engineering. Social implications - Considering the recent technical advancement in robotics which is brining robots closer to home, this paper aims to bridge the gap between human and robot affection measurement. The final goal is to introduce robots to the society which are useful and can be especially used to take care of those in need such as elderly. Originality/value - This paper is one of the first kind to get inspired from scientific human love evaluation methods and apply that to human-robot application.