Sprout: Designing Expressivity for Robots Using Fiber-Embedded Actuation

In this paper, we explore how techniques from soft robotics can help create a new form of robotic expression. We present Sprout, a soft expressive robot that conveys its internal states by changing the shape of its body. By integrating fiber-embedded actuators into its construction, Sprout can extend, expand, twist, and bend. These movements enable Sprout to express its internal states, for example, by expanding when it is angry and bending its body forward when it is curious. Through two user studies, we investigated how Sprout's expressions were interpreted by users, how users perceived Sprout, and how users interacted with it. We propose the integration of soft actuators as a novel design space for designing robot expressions to convey emotional and internal states.