Keep on dancing: Effects of expressive motion mimicry

Expressive motion refers to movements that help convey an agent's attitude towards its task or environment. People frequently use expressive motion to indicate internal states such as emotion, confidence, and engagement. Robots can also exhibit expressive motion, and studies have shown that people can legibly interpret such expressive motion. Mimicry involves imitating the behaviors of others, and has been shown to increase rapport between people. The research question addressed in this study is how robots mimicking the expressive motion of children affects their interaction with dancing robots. The paper presents our approach to generating and characterizing expressive motion, based on the Laban Efforts System and the results of the study, which provides both significant and suggestive evidence to support that such mimicry has positive effects on the children's behaviors.