A cat-like robot mimicking bunting behavior to alleviate human tension

Tsukuba, Japan—The behavior of a cat rubbing its head against a person, known as bunting, is an expression of affection and is believed to have a healing effect on humans.

In this study, researchers developed a robot that mimics this bunting behavior and conducted experiments to assess its effects on human participants.

To mimic the bunting motion, the robot's neck (cervical vertebrae) had to be flexible, with the ability to adjust its rigidity during the motion. The research team developed a robot featuring a variable stiffness mechanism that can adjust neck stiffness through wire tension. The robot was tested with three neck stiffness settings, (1) low, (2) high, and (3) variable, via experiments involving 22 university student participants, with each trial lasting 40 s of bunting motion.

The participants evaluated the bunting motion by using a temporary mood scale questionnaire, which measures their mood changes. The results revealed a significant reduction in tension among participants after interacting with the robot compared to before the robot was used. Although the greatest tension reduction was observed with the variable stiffness setting, no statistically significant difference was found among the three settings. However, some participants commented on the effectiveness of the variable stiffness setting, suggesting its potential benefits.

These findings will contribute to the development of robots that can interact with humans, offering healing effects and promoting well-being.

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This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers 19H01112 and 23H00484.
 

_{Original Paper}

Title of original paper:
Development of a Robotic Device That Performs Head Bunting to Relieve User Tension

Journal:
ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction

DOI:

10.1145/3700600

_{Correspondence}

Professor TANAKA, Fumihide
Institute of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba

_{Related Link}

Institute of Systems and Information Engineering