Expanding the Senses: Considering the Use of Active Smell Delivery for Human-Robot Interactions

Harufumi Nakashima, Drazen Brscic, Takayuki Kanda

Abstract: We considered the robot’s use of smells as a nonverbal way of interacting with people. In particular, we were interested in active smell delivery, which involves delivering scents to specific locations and at precise moments. Since smell is still largely unexplored as an interaction modality for human-robot interactions, many aspects are unknown. To address this gap, through exploratory studies we identified the important factors of mounting positions as well as timing and movement coordination, which need to be considered for the successful integration of active smell delivery on robots.