With advances in HCI and AI, and increasing prevalence of commercial social robots and chatbots, humans are communicating with computer interfaces for various applications in a wide range of settings. Kissenger is designed to bring HCI to the populist masses. In order to investigate the role of robotic kissing using the Kissenger device in HCI, the authors conducted a modified version of the imitation game described by Alan Turing by including the use of the kissing machine. Results show that robotic kissing has no effect on the winning rates of the male and female players during human-human communication, but it increases the winning rate of the female player when a chatbot is involved in the game.
TopBackground
Kissing is a universal gesture practised in almost every culture. Whether it is a kiss on the cheek, a peck on the lips or a passionate French kiss, kissing is the most direct expression of affection and acceptance in both sexual and non-sexual human relationships. The types and functions of kissing vary from culture to culture. In many Western cultures, people kiss as a form of greeting or farewell whereas many oriental cultures (China, Japan etc.) do not seem to practice this custom (Tian, 2010). However, kissing between family members as a way of bonding and affection occurs in most cultures although the frequency varies with the social complexity of the culture (Jankowiak et al., 2015). Kissing is not just exclusive to human interactions. Many people kiss their pets and even inanimate objects such as dolls to express their attachment and affection. Some non-human primates such as chimpanzees and bonobos also exhibit the behaviour of kissing (De Waal, 2000).
Kissing is an act of physical touch, which is a visceral need for both human and non-human primates (Harlow, 1958). Families and friends engage in kissing as an intimate way to express emotions and strengthen bonds. The lips are an extremely sensitive and sensual part of our body packed with nerve endings. Women’s lips are often one of their erogenous zones and considered as a symbol of sexuality (Morris, 2005). The touching of lips against may bear more feelings of attachment and intimacy than any other forms of contact.
The functions of kissing extend beyond a mere act of intimacy when it comes to kissing in romantic relationships. Scientists suggest that romantic mouth-to-mouth kissing serves as an assessment to potential mates, which might explain why people often confess their love by initiating a kiss with their love interests. Our attraction level to a potential partner changes after an initial kiss (Wlodarski & Dunbar, 2013), which suggests that we gauge our compatibility with that partner through kissing. Mate assessment through kissing can be explained by genetics. Kissing brings two people into close proximity, which allows us to smell and detect chemical signals such as pheromones present in the body odour of the other. Women use pheromonal cues to access their sexual compatibility with men by detecting a class of genes called the MHC (Wedekind et al., 1995). Men can detect whether a woman is ovulating from her body odour, which indicates fertility (Singh & Bronstad, 2001).