In the Face of Emotion

Abstract

Since the arrival of social robots, emotions have become a vital topic for the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). We experimentally investigated the multilevel phenomenon of emotions with a multi-method approach. By using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) we analyzed the facial expressions of 33 participants watching an anthropomorphic robot (Reeti) in a friendly interaction or being tortured. The results show that human emotional reactions towards an anthropomorphic robot can be captured via facial expressions as well as via self-report measurements. With this and future studies, we aim to provide information on spontaneous facial expressions towards a robot that could serve as guidance for automatic approaches.