Humans and Robotic Arm: Laban Movement Theory to create Emotional Connection

Movement is one of the basic tools that humans use to convey emotional states. Body language and movement are also relevant in the perception that we have of other people. Many studies have been done on movement and emotion sharing, involving humans on one side and robots or automated agents on the other. From these studies, there is evidence of the importance of robots to improve their social capabilities and develop more effective social interaction. This work aims at embedding some social movements in a robot manipulator, that will elicit an emotional response from users. Laban Movement Analysis is used to do so, and social movements are developed on a robotic arm, then shown to participants in an online study and a questionnaire. The results show that it is possible to elicit emotions through movement only and that the perception is not affected by personal experiences.