Emotional Segmentation Using Fuzzy C-Means: Identifying Enthusiastic, Rejecting, and Uncertain Profiles in the Presence of Service Robots
摘要
This article seeks to identify consistent emotional patterns that explain users’ interactions with robots in diverse contexts, particularly in service settings. Data were collected using specialized facial recognition software, which identified seven basic emotions: anger, sadness, disgust, joy, surprise, fear, and contempt. Emotional responses were clustered using the Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) algorithm, which allowed for the detection of overlapping emotional trends and the classification of participants into fuzzy emotional profiles, i.e., those with the simultaneous presence of multiple emotions. As a result, three main emotional profiles emerged: enthusiastic, rejecting, and uncertain. The enthusiastic profile displayed high levels of joy and surprise in the presence of robots, indicating openness and positive engagement. The rejecting profile was characterized by the presence of fear and disgust. The uncertain profile included participants with mixed or low-intensity emotional expressions, suggesting ambivalence or confusion.