Semantic Gesture in Robot Humor: A New Dimension to Enhance the Humor Expression

Heng Zhang, Chuang Yu, Xiaoxuan Hei, Adriana Tapus

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Humor is pervasive in our daily life. It serves not only to build rapport but also to ease tension during interactions and create stronger social interactions. In the realm of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), humor also plays a vital role in fostering engaging and positive interactions. However, endowing robots with the ability to express humor appropriately is still a challenge. Drawing inspiration from pantomime and sign language humor, our research focuses on the role of semantic gestures in the social robot's expression of humor. In this work, we conducted an experiment in which NAO robot made humorous performances by using a series of semantic gestures. The results of the online survey show that the semantic gesture can significantly enhance the degree of funniness of the robot humor performance. Furthermore, the impact of the semantic gesture is closely tied to both the clarity of its expression and the appropriateness of the chosen semantic words.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHRI 2024 Companion - Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages1173-1177
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9798400703232
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Mar 2024
Externally publishedYes
Event19th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2024 - Boulder, United States
Duration: 11 Mar 202415 Mar 2024

Publication series

NameACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
ISSN (Electronic)2167-2148

Conference

Conference19th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoulder
Period11/03/2415/03/24

Keywords

  • Humor style
  • Nonverbal behavior
  • Robot humor
  • Semantic gesture

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