Sensorized Robotic Hugs with CASTOR Robot: Evaluation of Two Methods to Control Hug Physical-Interaction

Recently, the benefits and needs of human beings to maintain physical and social interactions have been reported. Thus, the consequences of the pandemic have been both physical and emotional. Social robots have been developed to maintain emotionally supportive physical contact such as hugging. The outcomes of the adaptation of the CASTOR robot to give and receive reciprocal sensor-controlled hugs in 12 participants (7 males, 5 females, 22.16 \(\;\pm \;\) 2.08 years old, 1.67 \(\;\pm \;\) 0.077 m of height) are presented. The results demonstrate the robot’s ability to give comfortable reciprocal hugs to participants despite not being human-sized, and indicate that the CASTOR robot withstands physical interactions with adults.