2024/11/14 by Simone Arreghini, Arreghini, Simone, Antonio Paolillo +5
Engineering · Neuroscience · #Design Education and Practice #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Robotics (cs.RO) #Tactile and Sensory Interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2411.09299
openalex publication_date 2024/11/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Social robots are required not only to understand human intentions but also to effectively communicate their intentions or own internal states to users. This study explores the use of sonification to provide explicit auditory feedback, enhancing mutual understanding in HRI. We introduce a novel sonification approach that conveys the robot's internal state, linked to its perception of nearby individuals and their interaction intentions. The approach is evaluated through a two-fold user study: an online video-based survey with 26 participants and live experiments with 10 participants. Results indicate that while sonification improves the robot's expressivity and communication effectiveness, the design of the auditory feedback needs refinement to enhance user experience. Participants found the auditory cues useful but described the sounds as uninteresting and unpleasant. These findings underscore the importance of carefully designed auditory feedback in developing more effective and engaging HRI systems.