Social Robots as Coaches: How Human-Robot Interaction Positively Impacts Motivation in Sports Training Sessions

Abstract

The impact of COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of sports and physical activity for maintaining people’s mental well-being. In this domain, promising use cases for social robots have been identified. However, current research lacks a systematic approach for implementing, analyzing and understanding the contribution of robotic embodiment and proximity for persuasive and motivation technologies. In this work, we investigate how social robots could be used, in real-world training scenarios, to support trainers in conducting exercises while positively motivating trainees. Two use cases were designed to meet the needs of health and competitive oriented trainees. Qualitative and quantitative results from a field study show positive effects of the robot on trainees in terms of acceptance and intrinsic motivation. In addition, our findings highlight directions for further improvement of the design of social robots in sports and physical scenarios.