Squeeze Me: Gently Please
Jelle Stienstra & Patrizia Marti
Communication Science Department
University of Siena
Italy
[email protected], [email protected]
ABSTRACT
This paper presents the Squeeze Me, a research-throughdesign case that explores the emergence of empathic
behavior between human and machine by sparking an
expression-rich relation. The Squeeze Me is a squeezable
device used to grab attention from a robot, providing
ground for expressive values to be shared. The expressions
exerted on the mediating device by the human are mapped
to expressive behaviors of the robot in the modality of
motion in forthcoming interaction. We propose a doublelayered interaction paradigm in achieving natural and
socially acceptable synthesis. Firstly, a direct mapping,
inherently exhibiting a natural relationship. Secondly, an
amplifying and reductive mapping to construct a
personalizing relationship through vivid and lively
interactions fed by the intentions of the robot as well as the
user. The design case serves to explore consequences of a
phenomenological approach on the constitution of empathy
in the fields of human and robot interaction. With this work
we intend to inspire design engineering to shift from
representational and discrete to rich, continuous-sustained
and other embodied mechanisms for interaction when
targeting empathic behavior to emerge.
Author Keywords
Interaction design; continuous mapping; empathy
ACM Classification Keywords
H.5.m. Information interfaces and presentation (e.g., HCI):
User Interfaces – theory and methods, input devices and
strategies, interaction styles.
General Terms
Design
INTRODUCTION
Addressing people is what we consider to be our main duty
while designing intelligent products and systems intended
to transform society. We design for people, for our
experiences, for the flow of our everyday lives. We use
phenomenology as inspiration for design to respect the
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uniqueness of our life-world’s perceptions, from a bodily
[4] and a contextual experience perspective [6]. In
succession of earlier work that focused on addressing
human capabilities in a balanced and respectful manner [9],
we here aim to explore the consequences of a
phenomenological design approach, by focusing on humans
social skills moreover the earlier explored perceptualmotor, emotional and cognitive skills. For this researchthrough-design case we utilize the design practical notion
that social skills concern our capabilities to perceive and act
in relation to other living beings and entities. In other
words, they allow us to affirm and act upon action
possibilities in others as well as allowing us to appreciate
and act upon someone else’s feelings. This refers to a
complementary relation between one and others’
perceptual-motor, emotional, and cognitive skills within a
shared context.
Following, this turns us back to earlier phenomenologyinspired design work that focused on addressing our
perceptual-motor and emotional skills as they are the media
of our social. The particular aim of this design case, the
constitution of empathy within a human and robot context,
thus points us to bringing together earlier work on empathy
in the field of robotics with interaction design paradigms
such as natural, rich and embodied interaction that build
upon the emergence of meaning in the interaction. The
aesthetic quality of our research-through-design case can
therefore be found in the interaction rather than its visual
form.
In this paper we explore the possibility of achieving, by
design, an empathic relation with interactive devices in
order to enrich the experience of use as an emergent and
dynamic outcome of the interaction.
Phenomenology-inspired design principles
Design and Human-Computer Interaction has been inspired
by phenomenology as pushed in the past decades by
Overbeeke [9], Dourish [2], Winograd and Flores [17] and
Fällman [3]. Exemplary commercial outcomes found in
HCI are touch-screen interactions, real-time car-navigation,
the Fonckel (www.fonckel.com) and various gaming
products such as the Kinect and Wii. For the researchdesign-case we mainly build upon design principles derived
from Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology of perception [6],
which concerns notions such as embodiment, the
emergence of meaning and intersubjectivity pushing the
phenomenological stance beyond an individual experience
of the world.
While we interact with the world around us, using our body,
using our perceptual-motor skills, we do so in a sustained
continuous way more than discrete state changes as seen in
most interface design. Therefore our primary design
principle is to allow for a continuous interaction.
Further, while we interact with the world we are surrounded
by rich and expressive form-shifting interactions more than
one-dimensional interactions (i.e. buttons that merely allow
for on/off states) as found in most interface design. In order
to feel what is good or tasteful, you would need to feel bad,
less good, sweeter, more bitter, tighter etc. as well.
Subsequently, this concerns interaction and not merely an
input or output. It concerns the relation that constitutes a
meaning in the interaction. Therefore our secondary design
principle is to allow for rich interaction.
In order to address our emotional skills, we utilize our
perceptual-motor skills driving upon ‘natural interaction’
[8] as can be found in the flow of everyday life and kinetic
and dynamic laws found in nature. The Frogger framework
by Wensveen et al. [16, 11], provides designerly handles to
design for such embodied natural interactions to address
emotional skills. This can be achieved by closely mapping
(or even coupling) the input to output in six aspects: time,
location, direction, modality, dynamics, and expression.
Two projects that use this framework in similar manner are
Glowve [15] and Sensible Alternative [12]. The Glowve is
a soft-toy for children that are afraid in the dark while
intending to sleep. When the child squeezes the soft-toy, a
result naturally following from being afraid and seeking for
comfort is that the room lights up coherently. The child is
enabled to see that there is nothing to be afraid of. The
Sensible Alternative is a smart-phone interface that uses the
backside of the phone to push in relevant applications. Here
the pressure exerted is mapped to the appearance of the
icons. If gently pushed icons appear gently while if
thoroughly pushed the icons appear more vibrant. Like
squeezing a clear-cut orange, the way of squeezing it
influences the way the juices flow out. Both projects make
use of the human perceptual-motor skill to hold and
exerting pressure. By closely mapping this embodied and
continuously rich input of pressure to coherent feedback
emotional skills were addressed.
Empathy
Both examples exploit a single human-product interaction
addressing our perceptual-motor and emotional skills
through applying mappings that are experienced as natural.
Though, the products are merely responsive towards a
human interaction. We target to utilize our social skills and
push towards meaning to emerge in interaction where
responsiveness is not merely directly coupled. We aim for
empathy between human and product.
Empathy is a controversial construct, evoking debate over
its nature, definition and measurement in any context. It
implies the apprehension of another’s inner world and a
joint understanding of emotions.
Notwithstanding its argumentative connotation, its
beneficial effect on attitudes and social behavior is widely
recognized. This is the reason why a growing number of
applications of the concept have emerged in different fields.
For example in HCI, Bickmore [1], and Paiva et al. [10]
attempted to emulate empathy in virtual agents. In design
research, Koskinen at al. [5] developed methods and
techniques as inspiration for design, to understand how
people make sense of emotions. In the field of assistive
robotics, Tapus and Matarić [13, 14] developed a model of
empathic interaction based on verbal and non-verbal
communication with robots.
Taking a phenomenological approach to action and
perception, we believe that empathy is not a result of an
internal judgment or a merely cognitive activity. It is a
social product emerging dynamically as an outcome of the
interaction whereby actions and perception of people
synergize with one another. Synergizing in the context of
human-robot interaction, is for example when both robot
and human are looking in the same direction (e.g. towards a
source of noise), robot anticipation with opening a door,
sharing joy or fear when watching a movie together.
However, these synergies may become actualized in
different ways. In our design case we explore the empathic
resonance with a bottom-up and ‘behavior-based’ design
strategy. In particular, we developed a concept of moody
interaction to enrich people’s experience through a
continuous dialogue with artifacts of everyday use. The
concept is based on the earlier mentioned Frogger
Framework, where responsiveness is mapped and coupled
in a continuous action-perception loop. We extend this with
a dynamic layer that continuously adjusts the mapping
through interaction. This enables the interacting entities to
show their shared intentionality to engage in interaction and
to resonate with one another [7]. In this way we aim at
making interaction expressive, embodied and responsive
through a continuous action-perception loop without using
a previous representation or plan of the interaction itself.
This work has been carried out in the context of
ACCOMPANY (Acceptable robotiCs COMPanions for
AgeiNg Years), an European project funded under FP7ICT-2011-7 (http://accompanyproject.eu). The project
develops a robot companion as part of a smart environment
to facilitate independent living of elderly at home. In the
context of this project, we explore rich and natural ways for
interaction, focusing on empathy as a means to enable
meaningful and engaging relations between human and
machine.
DESIGN CASE
We explore the emergence of empathy provided by
coherently natural and moody responsiveness via two input
modalities, haptically and auditory: The ‘Squeeze Me’ and
the ‘Call Me’. With these input devices the user, in our case
an independent living elderly, is enabled to request
attention from a caregiving robot, the Care-O-Bot. In this
exploration we focus on the locomotive qualities of the
robot as expression carrier. We further just focus on
attention requesting from the elderly assuming the robot can
complete the requested tasks.
Just like the way people approach other people, the speed,
acceleration, the angle and the closeness of coming near are
technical descriptors that carry expressive qualities that
address our feelings such as appropriateness, shyness,
comfort, care, laziness, enthusiasm and so on. The main
path of movement of the robot is predefined due to system
architecture in the main platform; therefore we apply the
expressive qualities in the movement through dynamic
movement profiles describing the pace of movement over
time.
… just brushed my teeth, and surprisingly I was able to take
a refreshing shower after yet another warm night. It is not
easy facing the heat; it makes me tired, even more. Time to
sit down and explore some tv channels, amusing myself by
what the world is concerned with nowadays. Thirst is
getting to me, perhaps the effort to shower myself took the
best of me for the day. I need a drink, pff, getting out of this
chair? No way, it is comfortable but I do not even have the
strength to get out if I have to move around all day with this
sun pushing the energy out of me. No the sun is not what it
used to be. Ok, focus, water … Help, now what? Care-OBot is there to assist me, but it is early. I didn’t see him
move around yet, perhaps he is still asleep. Well lets just
wake him up to get me some water, after that I might have
the strength to do some things on my own again … his help
is needed, I squeeze gently, it is merely a pinch in the
remote. Would he have even felt it? Yes, slow but smoothly
Care-O-Bot turns towards me. Calmly driving in my
direction. He is awake, and actually seems rather helpful
today, perhaps not as grumpy as last night ...
Naturally Approaching
The Squeeze Me device is a simple (analog) force-sensingresistor to which we directly map the values of the
movement of the robot. The expressions exerted on the
mediating device by the human are mapped to expressive
behaviors of the robot in the modality of motion in
forthcoming interaction. A short pinch results in a sturdy
movement, a hard squeeze results in a quick movement and
a gentle touch in a slow approach. This direct mapping
inherently exhibits a natural relationship while maintaining
the richness exhibited by the user.
… Care-O-Bot has been helpful today, yes, life can be lazy.
Living from my chair, and the more firmly I squeeze, I am
attended more rapidly … What is going on, he turns his
back to me. That’s not the way it is supposed to be, I will
squeeze again! Listen! No? fine, I do it myself! ... ow come
on, give me a hand. I simply do not have the strength for
this. Maybe I shouldn’t have used you as my slave today.
Making you run around, for me to live like a king. Sorry,
please, just take me to bed, I’ll ask gently ...
Mood
Figure 1. The Care-O-Bot platform used to explore
expressive qualities in its movement to achieve empathy.
On top of the directly mapped expressions of pinching to
movement, interactions that inhibit a natural relationship,
we here provide an amplifying and reductive mapping
layer. This layer shifts the direct mapping towards a less
expected mapping throughout the day (through interaction).
The dynamically adjustments of expressive mapping,
sometimes even inverting the input towards response
provide a vivid and lively interaction. With a natural
relationship as reference, the moody interaction evokes
denial, over-enthusiastic, stubbornness and require the
elderly to adjust its behavior in interaction. A relationship is
constructed through these shifting interactions, we target for
empathy through moodiness within a natural response.
… Why am I on the floor? Hmm my knee, what to do now?
It hurts so bad, I am too old for this ... HELP! … Hey that is
quick, Care-O-Bot is here to offer me a hand. He came
rushing at me just I wanted ...
Similar to the ‘Squeeze Me’, the ‘Call Me’ design case
utilizes expressive messages given by the elderly directly
mapped and thereby inherently exhibiting a natural
relationship. The expressiveness in a whisper results in a
gentle movement while the shout holds more abrupt values
demanding rapid attention. Intonation (loudness, length,
dynamics, timbre) is continuously mapped to the movement
of the Care-O-Bot. The symbolic meaning of the vocal
command is ignored for now. In other words, we do not
know what is said, we merely utilize how it is said. We
foresee opportunities to combine both within a user
interface. The moody interaction, providing an empathic
experience through a continuous dialogue as described with
the ‘Squeeze Me’ scenario, applies for the ‘Call Me’ as
well. Shouting to the robot all day long is not going to make
him work more and harder. Actually, he will ignore and
provoke other ways of asking attention from the user.
Whispering all day long, on the other hand, will make the
Care-O-Bot probably invade the elderly’s personal space in
order to ‘hear’ properly, this will transform the way of
interacting as well. Through changing behavior in
interaction between human and machine we target empathy.
… Nice, finally sitting down to enjoy a movie. It is not like
the cinema but well at least I am not alone. Care-O-Bot
joined me from next to my couch… (scary scene, the tension
builds up, to be heard within the soundscape of the movie)
Ha, yes this is scary but you don’t have to look away cause
this is a scary scene. You do not want to see the movie?
Blocking your eyes with your fingers… (Bang) … Relax, it
is just a movie, are you scared? You almost ran into the
closet with your sudden reaction… Ahh, you do not want to
miss the scene, right? Peeking through your fingers…
Active participation
Surrounding noise can be considered to disturb our
expressive design proposal, due to technological
difficulties, in order to achieve natural interaction and
empathy. The robot would respond to the environment.
With the above-described scenario we hope to illustrate that
the shared context can provoke empathy through active
participation.
CLOSING REMARKS
In this paper we presented a research-through-design case
exploring empathy as a means to achieve expressive and
rich interactions with a robot companion. The concept of
empathic behavior is enabled by inherently meaningful and
moody interactions implemented in two experience
prototypes. The first one ‘Squeeze Me’ explores an
expressive tactile interaction while the second one ‘Call
Me’ plays with intonation of vocal commands to obtain
personalized and moody responses.
Expression in the movement is limited to the general
movement of the Care-O-Bot, though in the future we plan
to apply the expressive movement profiles on more ‘body’
parts, such as the tray and arm while performing tasks.
Furthermore, a full action-perception-loop is not achieved
here, as the movement of the robot is of responsive not
interactive nature. An uncoupling of the torso’s movement
from the system architecture will allow us to fully explore
an action-perception-loop in the future.
As stated in the introduction, the design cases are developed
as a research-through-design, to make the concept of
empathic interaction tangible and experience-able, to reflect
on and challenge the theoretical framework. This will
support the development of a new set of research questions
and to guide the development of the next iteration of
prototypes. Elderly users will use, experience and co-reflect
on these prototypes as part of the iterative process. These
prototypes should not be regarded as final solutions. The
prototypes serve as physical hypotheses to explore a
phenomenological approach to the design of empathic
behavior.
Our prototypes show that empathic demeanors in humanrobot interaction can be achieved in a direct, perceptual way
not necessarily mediated by the use of complex and predefined procedures or sequences of actions. The proposed
design does not require the representation of complex
internal states and inferential mechanisms in the robot to
provoke an empathic behavior to emerge. The proposed
design basically relies on coupling and mapping actions and
their effects through a continuous action-perception loop
exploiting the richness and continuity of our embodied
skills.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank Ernesto Di Iorio for his profound support with
prototyping the research-through-design case. The first
author is further associated to the Designing Quality in
Interaction group, Department of Industrial Design,
Eindhoven University of Technology where the mentioned
design-practical notion of social skills was initiated and is
being developed further.
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