Breathe with Me: Synchronizing Biosignals for User Embodiment in Robots

TL;DR

The paper addresses embodiment in human–robot interaction by introducing embreathment, a real-time respiration-to-robot-movement mapping.It implements a prototype with a Braccio robotic arm and respiration sensor, comparing synchronized versus non-synchronized breathing in a within-subjects design.Results show that breath synchronization significantly enhances body ownership, with medium-to-large effects on objective embodiment measures, while self-efficacy and social impressions show no robust change; qualitative data reveal greater preference and perceived responsiveness under synchrony.The work proposes interoceptive-exteroceptive synchrony as a general design principle for prosthetics, collaborative robots, and shared autonomy, and highlights directions for extending to other physiological signals and longer-term studies.

Abstract

Embodiment of users within robotic systems has been explored in human-robot interaction, most often in telepresence and teleoperation. In these applications, synchronized visuomotor feedback can evoke a sense of body ownership and agency, contributing to the experience of embodiment. We extend this work by employing embreathment, the representation of the user's own breath in real time, as a means for enhancing user embodiment experience in robots. In a within-subjects experiment, participants controlled a robotic arm, while its movements were either synchronized or non-synchronized with their own breath. Synchrony was shown to significantly increase body ownership, and was preferred by most participants. We propose the representation of physiological signals as a novel interoceptive pathway for human-robot interaction, and discuss implications for telepresence, prosthetics, collaboration with robots, and shared autonomy.

Figures (3)

• Figure 1: The experiment setup, during the introduction phase. Participants were asked to grasp the yellow cube and place it in the cup. The DoFs are indicated by the overlaid white arrow. From base to gripper: Base, Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist, Wrist rotation, and Gripper.
• Figure 2: Illustrations of the tasks participants performed during the experiment's block task phase. With the order randomized between conditions per-participants, each each condition included a functional task, two expressive gestures, and a social interaction: draw the shapes square/diamond shape in space; gestures yes and no / gestures hi and bye; give a high-five/low-five. For the drawing task, participants were presented with the above images and were instructed to reach the four points.
• Figure 3: Boxplots presenting the significant scores across conditions (non-synchronized vs. synchronized).