Persuasive Technology Through Behavior and Emotion with Pet-Type Artifacts

This study examined the behaviors and emotional expressions that artifacts such as four-legged pets use to persuade people. On the basis of a preliminary study, we created six types of emotional expressions (joy, sadness, confusion, anger, surprise, and neutral) by combining each part of a dog's face and tail, voice, and speed of movement. We also selected several behaviors and created 12 types of animations combining the behaviors and emotional expressions. We conducted experiments using actual trash and trash cans in a mixed reality space in which participants were asked to wear Hololens2. The results showed that emotional expressions such as “sadness” and “confusion” were effective when the pet-like artifact was utilized to encourage participants to throw away the trash, while expressions that gave the impression of “joy” or “anger” were not effective. In addition, there was little difference in ratings based on whether the combination of actions was longer or shorter.