Study on Kawaii-ness in Motion

Abstract

Kawaii is one of the representative concepts of Japan-original Kansei. In this paper, we categorized Kawaii motion of Roomba and investigated the correlation between physical properties of motions and Kawaii-ness. First, we classified motions of Roomba into 10 types. Impressions of those motions were investigated and three of them were found to be Kawaii by subjects. Based on the findings, we formed a hypothesis that variations in acceleration, namely the jerk, affect Kawaii-ness. Second, we evaluated parameters of seven physical properties (position, velocity, acceleration, angle, angular velocity, angular acceleration, and time) of three Kawaii motions of Roomba. Then, we created 24 types of robot motions and evaluated impressions of them. The physical features of created motions were correlated with the Kawaii-ness of them. The result indicated that the jerk certainly affects the Kawaii-ness of motion but not always. It clearly indicated that the Kawaii-ness of motion is multifaceted.