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Stress Game: The Role of Motivational Robotic Assistance in Reducing User’s Task Stress

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International Journal of Social Robotics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In social HRI context, the robot’s usefulness and appropriate behavior plays an important role. A robot should be able to understand the human’s internal state (i.e., physiological and psychological states) so as to provide an adaptive and thus efficient assistance within daily life activities. Measuring stress and frustration of an individual while performing a certain task is a critical element that can help the robot adapt its behavior so as to improve user’s interest and task performance and to reduce his/her frustration. In this paper, we designed an experiment called “Stress Game”. In our work, stress is measured in terms of heart rate signal. The robot displays different behaviors as a function of user’s personality and game condition. We conducted our experiments with the NAO robot. The experimental results support our hypotheses that the robot has a positive effect on stress relief.

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Notes

  1. http://www.aldebaran-robotics.com/.

  2. http://www.phidgets.com/.

    Fig. 2
    figure 2

    Operation game board

    Full size image

  3. http://www.shimmer-research.com/.

  4. https://sites.google.com/site/naospersonalityevaluation/.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through Chaire D’Excellence program 2009 (Human–Robot Interaction for Assistive Applications).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Robotics and Computer Vision Lab, Computer Science and System Engineering Department, ENSTA-ParisTech, 828 Blvd. des Marechaux, Palaiseau, 91120, France

    Thi-Hai-Ha Dang & Adriana Tapus

Authors
  1. Thi-Hai-Ha Dang
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  2. Adriana Tapus
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Adriana Tapus.

Appendix

Appendix

1.1 Post-trial Questionnaire

1.1.1 Condition: With Robotic Coach

  1. (1)

    How were the robot’s movement/gestures with respect to your preferences? Few 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Many

  2. (2)

    How engaging was the interaction? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very much

  3. (3)

    The robot’s character was: Unsociable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sociable Introverted 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Extroverted Dangerous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Safe Unhelpful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Helpful Unstressful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stressful

  4. (4)

    Was the game stressful? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very much

  5. (5)

    The robot was expressive. Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very much

  6. (6)

    Did you notice any personality traits in the robot? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Many

  7. (7)

    Do you think that the robot is acting independently: Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree

  8. (8)

    Do you think the robot was having a human-like behavior? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree

  9. (9)

    What characteristics made the robot more natural: A. Speech: Not appropriate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very appropriate B. Gestures: Not appropriate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very appropriate

  10. (10)

    Was the robot acting appropriately? Not appropriate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very appropriate

  11. (11)

    Do you think the robot was helpful? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree

  12. (12)

    Was the robot stressing you? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree

  13. (13)

    Did you need any help to perform better? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree

  14. (14)

    Were you stressed during the game? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally Agree

1.1.2 Condition: Without Robotic Coach

  1. (1)

    Was the game stressful? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Very much

  2. (2)

    Did you need any help to perform better? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally agree

  3. (3)

    Were you stressed during the game? Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Totally agree

1.2 Post-experiment Questionnaire

  1. (1)

    Did you prefer the game the robot or without the robot?

  1. (a)

    with the robot

  2. (b)

    without the robot

1.3 Online Questionnaire

https://sites.google.com/site/naospersonalityevaluation/.

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Dang, THH., Tapus, A. Stress Game: The Role of Motivational Robotic Assistance in Reducing User’s Task Stress. Int J of Soc Robotics 7, 227–240 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0256-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0256-9

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