Prototyping support system for co-development of performance robots by robot engineers and dance performers

Robots are used in many situations. However, there are fields that could potentially use robotic technology but do not at present. The art field is one of these. Compared with new media art, there are few art forms that use robots. Robots are media with a body and intelligence and facilitate various types of interactions. This is different from recent new media. Therefore, robotic media will provide novel experiences with artworks not only to the audience but also to the artist, just as new media provides interactive and immersive experiences with artworks. Our long-term goal is to create robotic media artworks and to reveal what is occurring with these artworks. Our initial aim is to facilitate interactive discussions with dance performers and to develop a co-development tool named "Prototyping Support System. "This system consists of an RGB-D camera, PC, and projector, and achieves touch interaction with a robot in VR. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of a robot's reaction time on the robot's perceived emotion using this system. An experiment showed, especially in the case where the robot reacted by transforming, that a faster reaction time for the robot resulted in a greater perception that the robot was surprised. This paper discusses the system and its application in an experiment designed to determine the impact of the robot's reaction time and form in VR.