Rhythmic attention in child-robot dance play

September 2009

Rhythmic attention in child-robot dance play

Authors:

Marek P. Michalowski, Reid Simmons, and Hideki Kozima

Abstract:

Human social behavior is rhythmic, and synchrony plays an important role in coordinating and regulating our interactions. We are developing technology that allows the robot Keepon to perceive and behave rhythmically, and to synchronize its dancing behaviors to music or to children's movement as perceived using pressure sensors. We present two experiments in which Keepon dances with children to music, and in which the robot's rhythmic attention and role of leader or follower are manipulated in order to examine the effects on engagement and rhythmic synchrony. We found that children can assume the roles of leader or follower in a rhythmic interaction, that followers indeed tend to synchronize with the robot's movements, and that the role of follower causes the children to more closely follow a musical rhythm.
@conference{Michalowski-2009-122297,
author = {Marek P. Michalowski And Reid Simmons And Hideki Kozima},
title = {Rhythmic attention in child-robot dance play},
booktitle = {Proceedings of 18th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN '09)},
year = {2009},
month = {September},
pages = {816 - 821},
}
Copyright notice: This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder.