Gestures and social interaction

Three and a half seconds

Robot arms still cannot shake hands the way people do. Sensors on pairs of people shaking hands recorded the forces and movements, and split a handshake into a reach, a contact phase and a return. Inside the contact phase the shake itself lasts 1.31 s, and both hands then hold still for half a second before letting go. Scrub the timeline or let it play.

Which robot gestures do people get?

A robot that waves or nods needs people to read the gesture the way it was meant. In a web-based video study, people interpreted gestures and emblems made by an anthropomorphic robot. Most of the 15 were misread. Pick one of the six that came through.

Look at me when you tell a story

People persuade face to face with their eyes and their hands. A storytelling robot was given either, both or neither, and listeners then judged the character in its story. Turn gaze and gestures on and off to see where each version ranked.

Pointing, presence and care

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