Study of Children’s Hugging for Interactive Robot Design

We have developed a toy sized humanoid robot with soft air-filled modules on its links which sense contact and protect the robot and any interacting humans from damaging collisions.

We have developed a toy sized humanoid robot with soft air-filled modules on its links which sense contact and protect the robot and any interacting humans from damaging collisions. This robot, meant for robust physical interaction, is required to endure contact with children in the form of hugs and other playful interactions. It is therefore necessary to quantify the forces exerted during these interactions so that robots can be designed to both withstand these forces, as well as interact safely and intuitively in these situations. To quantify the range of forces exerted by children when performing both soft and strong hugs, we conduct a study in which 28 children (11 boys, 17 girls) ages 4 to 10 years old hug a pressure sensing doll while the pressure is recorded. The result of this study is a child’s maximum expected hugging force (2.623 psi for our setup) during normal play. The data gathered during this study will guide the further development of our physically interactive robot.