ABSTRACT
In this section, we propose social touch as the integration of both pre- and post-touch interactions. To build a social robot that facilitates both interactions, we develop a touch sensor system that enables a robot to detect interactions both before and after being touched by a human. As a first step, we develop a proximity and touch sensor for social touch using a fabric-based sensor and describe its promising characteristics for evaluating social touch. We also show two applications of our sensor in a social context involving elderly care and discuss future studies.
