“Moving Together: A Performing Arts Approach to Relational Human-Robot Interaction Design” – Irene Alcubilla Troughton

In her dissertation, “Moving Together: A Performing Arts Approach to Relational Human-Robot Interaction Design,” Irene Alcubilla Troughton tackles an important challenge in the field of human-robot interaction (HRI): how movement contributes to the creation of meaningful encounters between humans and robots. Supervised by Professor

The relational perspective in HRI

Traditionally, HRI has focused on an ‘internalist’ approach. Movement was, and is, used to convey and interpret internal states like emotions or intentions. While this approach has its strengths, Alcubilla Troughton argues that the richness and complexity of real interactions through movement is often overlooked.

Therefore, Alcubilla Troughton introduces the ‘relational’ perspective, a new approach. This perspective focusses on bodily interaction: how do humans initiate specific movements and with which movements do they respond? How is the interaction influenced by the context in which it takes place? And how do humans interpret those encounters? By investigating and designing movement patterns and how they acquire meaning, Alcubilla Troughton believes that interactions between humans and robots can be improved.

Role of the performing arts

The performing arts play a significant role in this research. By studying professional performers and integrating the knowledge, theory, and practice of the performing arts, Alcubilla Troughton dissects how movement patterns can make interactions engaging.

Alcubilla Troughton seeks to uncover new design possibilities for robots that can interact with humans in a more meaningful way. She does so in part through two case studies: one with the human-like robot Pepper in first encounters with people, and another one with the robotic ball Fizzy, designed to promote physical activity at home.

This PhD is part of the NWO (Smart Cultures) project Acting like a Robot and with supervision by Professor Maaike Bleeker (UU), Professor Koen Hindricks (Vrije Universiteit) and co-supervision by Dr Kim Baraka (Vrije Universiteit).