Touching humanoid robot initiate human emotions: study

Participants were equipped with an Affective Q-Sensor finger of your non-dominant hand.

Washington: Scientists have discovered that playing a humanoid robot in intimate areas can elicit an emotional response in humans.

Researchers at Stanford University in the United States conducted an experiment using a robot in human form, which was scheduled to verbally instruct participants to play 13 parts of his body.

Participants were equipped with an affective Q-Sensor finger of your non-dominant hand. This measure skin conductance, a measure of physiological activation, and the reaction time of the participant.

The results showed that when participants were instructed to touch the robot in the areas that people normally do not touch, that is more emotionally aroused when compared with playing the most accessible parts like hands and neck.

Participants were also more reluctant to touch the private parts based on response times.

A lot of research shows how communication touch as social "Glue" between the people building trust and relationships influence is used.

It is not known much about the contact between a person and a robot. Touch has been under examined in comparison with other aspects of robots, such as its appearance and shape.

"Our work shows that robots are a new form of media that is especially powerful. This shows that people respond to robots a primitive, social way," said Jamy Li of Stanford University.

"Social conventions regarding touch the private parts of another person apply to parts of the body of a robot as well. This research has implications for robot design and artificial systems theory," Li said.