Animation and Design Principles for Effective Human-Robot Interaction: The Visual and Movement Design of Social Robots

Galindo, Kerl Arnel

Animation and Design Principles for Effective Human-Robot Interaction: The Visual and Movement Design of Social Robots

Galindo, Kerl Arnel

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Publication Type:: Thesis
Issue Date:: 2025

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Galindo, Kerl Arnel
dc.date.accessioned	2025-10-22T02:18:17Z
dc.date.available	2025-10-22T02:18:17Z
dc.date.issued	2025
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/190542
dc.description	University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.description.abstract	The human tendency to anthropomorphise inanimate objects and science fiction’s ability to actively shape technological futures through its effect on the collective imagination, has transformed the field of human-robot interaction from the pragmatic and functional to the hedonic and social. With the desire to incorporate robots within the domestic setting, the proxemics of the space they occupy encourages interactions on both the social, personal, and intimate level. In order to create robots that feel more like companions, robots must now be functionally useful, efficient, and also be capable of shared emotional experiences. Despite this shift, social robot design still prioritises pragmatic and functional concerns. This is evident in social robot design papers, which rarely discuss the rationale behind specific design decisions or their impact on human-robot interaction. These practices stem from misconceptions about the nature of design and its role in social robotics, with engineers and computer scientists often viewing designers as responsible only for a robot’s exterior aesthetics. Design, in fact, plays an all-encompassing role, addressing pragmatic and functional needs while also shaping how technologies interact with and influence various aspects of human society. This research argues that animation’s ability to create characters that evoke empathy and emotional attachment in audiences demonstrates its potential to address the hedonic and social dimensions of human-robot interaction. Animation for film parallels animation in robotics, as both involve the expression of emotion through an embodied medium. However, the relationship between these two fields remains largely unexplored. Key elements of design and animation—such as anthropomorphism, suspension of disbelief, aesthetics, visual design, observation, storytelling, performance, and the articulation of personality through movement and gesture—are essential to creating the illusion of life in animated characters and may be instrumental in developing socially adept robots. Using the case study of Haru, a tabletop social robot developed by Honda Research Institute Japan (HRI-JP), this research adopts a Deweyan pragmatic framework supported by a design thinking approach to explore how design and animation can enhance human-robot interaction. It highlights the need for a holistic approach to robotics, emphasising the role of multimodal communication—particularly the visual design of eyes and the gestural expression of eye movements—in enriching a robot’s communicative interface. The aim is to develop new design principles and theories that contribute to the creation of emotionally expressive, socially responsive robots.	en_US.UTF-8
dc.format	Thesis (PhD)
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US.UTF-8
dc.relation	https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/bitstream/10453/190542/1/thesis.pdf
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights	The author owns the copyright in this thesis including all reproduction and reuse rights for the work. The work may not be altered without the permission of the copyright owner. Attribution is essential when quoting or paraphrasing from this thesis.
dc.rights	© 2025 Kerl Arnel Galindo
dc.rights	au.edu.uts.lib/cph
dc.title	Animation and Design Principles for Effective Human-Robot Interaction: The Visual and Movement Design of Social Robots	en_US.UTF-8
dc.type	Thesis
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*

Abstract:

The human tendency to anthropomorphise inanimate objects and science fiction’s ability to actively shape technological futures through its effect on the collective imagination, has transformed the field of human-robot interaction from the pragmatic and functional to the hedonic and social. With the desire to incorporate robots within the domestic setting, the proxemics of the space they occupy encourages interactions on both the social, personal, and intimate level. In order to create robots that feel more like companions, robots must now be functionally useful, efficient, and also be capable of shared emotional experiences. Despite this shift, social robot design still prioritises pragmatic and functional concerns. This is evident in social robot design papers, which rarely discuss the rationale behind specific design decisions or their impact on human-robot interaction. These practices stem from misconceptions about the nature of design and its role in social robotics, with engineers and computer scientists often viewing designers as responsible only for a robot’s exterior aesthetics. Design, in fact, plays an all-encompassing role, addressing pragmatic and functional needs while also shaping how technologies interact with and influence various aspects of human society. This research argues that animation’s ability to create characters that evoke empathy and emotional attachment in audiences demonstrates its potential to address the hedonic and social dimensions of human-robot interaction. Animation for film parallels animation in robotics, as both involve the expression of emotion through an embodied medium. However, the relationship between these two fields remains largely unexplored. Key elements of design and animation—such as anthropomorphism, suspension of disbelief, aesthetics, visual design, observation, storytelling, performance, and the articulation of personality through movement and gesture—are essential to creating the illusion of life in animated characters and may be instrumental in developing socially adept robots. Using the case study of Haru, a tabletop social robot developed by Honda Research Institute Japan (HRI-JP), this research adopts a Deweyan pragmatic framework supported by a design thinking approach to explore how design and animation can enhance human-robot interaction. It highlights the need for a holistic approach to robotics, emphasising the role of multimodal communication—particularly the visual design of eyes and the gestural expression of eye movements—in enriching a robot’s communicative interface. The aim is to develop new design principles and theories that contribute to the creation of emotionally expressive, socially responsive robots.

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