{"id":{"repo_id":"arts-london","oai_identifier":"oai:ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk:20639"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/arts-london/oai:ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk:20639","repository":{"repo_id":"arts-london","name":"University of the Arts London","base_url":"https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Friend Me Your Ears: A Musical Approach to Human-Robot Relationships","abstract":"A relationship is something that is necessarily built up over time, however, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) trials are rarely extended beyond a single session. These studies are insufficient for examining multi-interaction scenarios, which will become commonplace if the robot is situated in a workplace or adopts a role that is part of a human’s routine. Long term studies that have been executed often demonstrate a declining novelty effect. Music, however, provides an opportunity for affective engagement, shared creativity, and social activity. This being said, it is unlikely that a robot best equipped to build sustainable and meaningful relationships with humans will be one that can solely play music. In their day-to-day lives, most humans encounter machines and computer programs capable of executing impressively complex tasks to a high standard that may provide them with hours of engagement. In order to have anything that that could be classed as a social relationship, the human must have the sense that their interactions are taking place with another, a phenomenon known as social presence. In this thesis, we examine whether the addition of simulated social behaviours will improve a sense of believability or social presence, which, along with an engaging musical interaction, will allow us to move towards something that could be called a human-robot relationship. First, we conducted a large online survey to gain insight into relationships based in regular music activity. Using these results, we designed, constructed and programmed Mortimer, a robotic system capable of playing the drums and a responsive composition algorithm to best meet these aims. This robot was then used in a series of studies, one single session and two long-term, testing various simulated social behaviours to compliment the musical improvisation. These experiments and their results address the paucity of long-term studies both specifically in Social Robotics and in the broader HRI field, and provide a promising insight into a possible solution to generally poor outcomes in this area. This conclusion is based upon the model of a positive human-robot relationship and the methodological approach of automated behavioural metrics to evaluate robotic systems in this regard developed and detailed within the thesis.","abstract_html":"A relationship is something that is necessarily built up over time, however, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) trials are rarely extended beyond a single session. These studies are insufficient for examining multi-interaction scenarios, which will become commonplace if the robot is situated in a workplace or adopts a role that is part of a human’s routine. Long term studies that have been executed often demonstrate a declining novelty effect. Music, however, provides an opportunity for affective engagement, shared creativity, and social activity. This being said, it is unlikely that a robot best equipped to build sustainable and meaningful relationships with humans will be one that can solely play music. In their day-to-day lives, most humans encounter machines and computer programs capable of executing impressively complex tasks to a high standard that may provide them with hours of engagement. In order to have anything that that could be classed as a social relationship, the human must have the sense that their interactions are taking place with another, a phenomenon known as social presence. In this thesis, we examine whether the addition of simulated social behaviours will improve a sense of believability or social presence, which, along with an engaging musical interaction, will allow us to move towards something that could be called a human-robot relationship. First, we conducted a large online survey to gain insight into relationships based in regular music activity. Using these results, we designed, constructed and programmed Mortimer, a robotic system capable of playing the drums and a responsive composition algorithm to best meet these aims. This robot was then used in a series of studies, one single session and two long-term, testing various simulated social behaviours to compliment the musical improvisation. These experiments and their results address the paucity of long-term studies both specifically in Social Robotics and in the broader HRI field, and provide a promising insight into a possible solution to generally poor outcomes in this area. This conclusion is based upon the model of a positive human-robot relationship and the methodological approach of automated behavioural metrics to evaluate robotic systems in this regard developed and detailed within the thesis.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["McCallum, Louis"],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015","date_published":"2015","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:00:50Z","subjects":["Human-computer Interaction","Multi-media Computing Science"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["McCallum, Louis (2015) Friend Me Your Ears: A Musical Approach to Human-Robot Relationships. 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In their day-to-day lives, most humans encounter machines and computer programs capable of executing impressively complex tasks to a high standard that may provide them with hours of engagement. In order to have anything that that could be classed as a social relationship, the human must have the sense that their interactions are taking place with another, a phenomenon known as social presence. In this thesis, we examine whether the addition of simulated social behaviours will improve a sense of believability or social presence, which, along with an engaging musical interaction, will allow us to move towards something that could be called a human-robot relationship. First, we conducted a large online survey to gain insight into relationships based in regular music activity. Using these results, we designed, constructed and programmed Mortimer, a robotic system capable of playing the drums and a responsive composition algorithm to best meet these aims. This robot was then used in a series of studies, one single session and two long-term, testing various simulated social behaviours to compliment the musical improvisation. These experiments and their results address the paucity of long-term studies both specifically in Social Robotics and in the broader HRI field, and provide a promising insight into a possible solution to generally poor outcomes in this area. This conclusion is based upon the model of a positive human-robot relationship and the methodological approach of automated behavioural metrics to evaluate robotic systems in this regard developed and detailed within the thesis."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Friend Me Your Ears: A Musical Approach to Human-Robot Relationships"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["McCallum, Louis"],"dc:date":["2015"],"dc:description":["A relationship is something that is necessarily built up over time, however, Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) trials are rarely extended beyond a single session. These studies are insufficient for examining multi-interaction scenarios, which will become commonplace if the robot is situated in a workplace or adopts a role that is part of a human’s routine. Long term studies that have been executed often demonstrate a declining novelty effect. Music, however, provides an opportunity for affective engagement, shared creativity, and social activity. This being said, it is unlikely that a robot best equipped to build sustainable and meaningful relationships with humans will be one that can solely play music. In their day-to-day lives, most humans encounter machines and computer programs capable of executing impressively complex tasks to a high standard that may provide them with hours of engagement. In order to have anything that that could be classed as a social relationship, the human must have the sense that their interactions are taking place with another, a phenomenon known as social presence. In this thesis, we examine whether the addition of simulated social behaviours will improve a sense of believability or social presence, which, along with an engaging musical interaction, will allow us to move towards something that could be called a human-robot relationship. First, we conducted a large online survey to gain insight into relationships based in regular music activity. Using these results, we designed, constructed and programmed Mortimer, a robotic system capable of playing the drums and a responsive composition algorithm to best meet these aims. This robot was then used in a series of studies, one single session and two long-term, testing various simulated social behaviours to compliment the musical improvisation. These experiments and their results address the paucity of long-term studies both specifically in Social Robotics and in the broader HRI field, and provide a promising insight into a possible solution to generally poor outcomes in this area. This conclusion is based upon the model of a positive human-robot relationship and the methodological approach of automated behavioural metrics to evaluate robotic systems in this regard developed and detailed within the thesis."],"dc:identifier":["McCallum, Louis (2015) Friend Me Your Ears: A Musical Approach to Human-Robot Relationships. 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