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Unconscious and Intentional Human Motion Cues for Expressive Robot-Arm Motion Design

Taito Tashiro, Tomoko Yonezawa, Hirotake Yamazoe

TL;DR

The paper tackles how timing-based human motion cues can convey intention to observers and be transferred to expressive robot-arm motion. By analyzing unconscious versus intentionally expressed movements in the Geister game and manipulating phase-specific timing, the authors derive design cues primarily in the late-motion phases, notably withdrawal. They validate these cues through two experiments: (i) human motion analysis to identify timing patterns, and (ii) robot-motion evaluation under both physical and video presentations, showing embodiment amplifies perceptual effects. The findings offer actionable guidance for expressive robot-arm design, highlighting late-phase timing, cue selection, and the importance of physical embodiment in evaluation to improve interpretability and user trust in human-robot interaction.

Abstract

This study investigates how human motion cues can be used to design expressive robot-arm movements. Using the imperfect-information game Geister, we analyzed two types of human piece-moving motions: natural gameplay (unconscious tendencies) and instructed expressions (intentional cues). Based on these findings, we created phase-specific robot motions by varying movement speed and stop duration, and evaluated observer impressions under two presentation modalities: a physical robot and a recorded video. Results indicate that late-phase motion timing, particularly during withdrawal, plays an important role in impression formation and that physical embodiment enhances the interpretability of motion cues. These findings provide insights for designing expressive robot motions based on human timing behavior.

Unconscious and Intentional Human Motion Cues for Expressive Robot-Arm Motion Design

TL;DR

The paper tackles how timing-based human motion cues can convey intention to observers and be transferred to expressive robot-arm motion. By analyzing unconscious versus intentionally expressed movements in the Geister game and manipulating phase-specific timing, the authors derive design cues primarily in the late-motion phases, notably withdrawal. They validate these cues through two experiments: (i) human motion analysis to identify timing patterns, and (ii) robot-motion evaluation under both physical and video presentations, showing embodiment amplifies perceptual effects. The findings offer actionable guidance for expressive robot-arm design, highlighting late-phase timing, cue selection, and the importance of physical embodiment in evaluation to improve interpretability and user trust in human-robot interaction.

Abstract

This study investigates how human motion cues can be used to design expressive robot-arm movements. Using the imperfect-information game Geister, we analyzed two types of human piece-moving motions: natural gameplay (unconscious tendencies) and instructed expressions (intentional cues). Based on these findings, we created phase-specific robot motions by varying movement speed and stop duration, and evaluated observer impressions under two presentation modalities: a physical robot and a recorded video. Results indicate that late-phase motion timing, particularly during withdrawal, plays an important role in impression formation and that physical embodiment enhances the interpretability of motion cues. These findings provide insights for designing expressive robot motions based on human timing behavior.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 18 sections, 5 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Simplified Geister
  3. Experiment 1: Human Movement Analysis
  4. Experimental Setup
  5. Exp. 1-1: Natural Piece-Moving Motions
  6. Exp. 1-2: Intentionally Expressed Piece-Moving Motions
  7. Discussion of Experiment 1
  8. Experiment 2: Robot Motion Evaluation
  9. System Configuration
  10. Exp. 2-1: Robot Condition
  11. Exp. 2-2: Video Condition
  12. Discussion of Experiment 2
  13. Discussion
  14. Unconscious vs. Intentional Human Movements
  15. Physical Robot vs. Video Presentation
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: Pieces and Board of the Simplified Geister Game
  • Figure 2: Example of Data Acquisition
  • Figure 3: Representative wrist trajectory during game-piece manipulation. Elapsed time (s) on the horizontal axis; 3D hand position on the vertical plots with $x$ = front–back, $y$ = left–right, and $z$ = height from the board. Blue dashed lines indicate the six phases (Phase 1–6).
  • Figure 4: Experimental Environments for Each Presentation Condition
  • Figure 5: Distribution of GQS Scores in Robot and Video Presentation Conditions