Humans establish embodied interactions, such as bows and handshakes, when they first greet one another and display a feeling of rapport. It is believed that humans construct a relationship that is emotionally acceptable to each other by the synchronization of their embodied rhythms through their embodied interactions. Hug behaviors are expected to synchronize embodied rhythms effectively as they are an embodied interaction where whole bodies are in contact with each other. In hug behaviors between humans and robots, the same efficiency is expected. Furthermore, when a human approaches a robot, the robot should generate a hug request motion to promote embodied interactions. Therefore, in this study, a hug robot system for the generation of hug behavior with approaching humans is developed. The hug robot system that employs a hug behavior request model generates request motion of a hug when a human approaches the robot. Furthermore, a switching hug control was developed by combining the proposed hug behavior request model with the hug behavior response model. In the switching hug control, when an approaching human requests a hug, the robot generates a response motion. However, if the approaching human does not request a hug, the robot will request one to the human. Then, in hug behaviors between a human and a robot, the motion characteristics of the robot that are preferred by majority of research participants are analyzed using the developed hug robot system.
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