Predicting Social Dynamics in Child-Robot Interactions with Facial Action Units

Abstract

We examine the extent to which task engagement, social engagement, and social attitude in child-robot interaction can be predicted on the basis of Facial Action Unit (FAU) intensity. The analyses were based on child-robot and child-child interaction data from the PInSoRo dataset [1]. We applied Logistic Regression, Naive Bayes, and Probabilistic Neural Networks to these data. Results indicated that FAU intensities have potential to predict social dynamics in child-robot interactions (average balanced accuracy scores up to 84%), and illustrate a difference in behavior of children towards other children when compared to their interaction with robots.