"Stop Touching Me": Soft Robotics with Aposematic Dynamic Color Change for Human-Robot Interaction

In nature, organisms use color changes for various purposes, including communication for courtship and deterring predators. Inspired by such mechanisms, this work introduces a technique to attain dynamic and reversible strain-induced color change in pneumatically actuated soft silicone robots. Drawing on the principle of warning coloration (aposematism), this technique is explored as a means of nonverbal signaling to discourage interaction within human-robot interaction (HRI). We developed two soft robotics prototypes capable of changing color when inflated and conducted an empirical study (n=29) to investigate people's physical interactions, emotional responses, and interpretations of the prototypes in their two configuration states (inflated/uninflated).
The results revealed that while touch frequency and emotional responses did not differ significantly between the two states, many participants experienced discouragement from interaction due to the prototypes' color and size changes.
Furthermore, aposematic coloration was perceived as a danger or threat signal by nearly half of the participants, but not universally recognized as endowed with this meaning. These results suggest that aposematic color-change and the presented color-change technique may have a use alongside other signaling modalities within HRI.