Comforting an Emotion-Mirroring Robot: Externalized Self-Soothing via Role-Reversal Touch Interaction

초록

Persistent loneliness significantly impacts adolescents and young adults, yet stigma often prevents professional help-seeking. Their high technology acceptance offers opportunities for non-human support agents. We introduce BabyDuck & HongDuck, a low-barrier, continuously available in-home robotic support system. Operating via a dual-device architecture, BabyDuck uses edge AI to classify user speech into seven emotions; HongDuck then externalizes these states through multimodal outputs (motion, lights, sound, haptics). A reciprocal interaction loop encourages users to comfort the robot via touch. A preliminary user study (N=10) explored this role-reversal paradigm compared to non-responsive and mirror-only conditions. While limited by sample size, the findings suggest that emotion-mirroring may support self-reflection, while touch-based caregiving presents unique potential for self-esteem restoration. This paper highlights practical design implications for using role-reversal paradigms as stigma-free entry points for everyday emotional support. © 2026 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

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