The emergence of embodied intelligence is expending the landscape of human-robot interaction (HRI) to include more direct and physical contact. While robot touch can provide assistance or comfort, a lack of Perceived Transparency before the touch, meaning limited clarity of the robot’s intentions, can lead to user confusion and anxiety. Despite its importance for user experience, perceived transparency towards robot’s pre-touch conveyance method remains underexplored. This study systematically investigates how touch information conveyance affects perceived transparency and safety. Informed by a 340-person survey, we conducted a video-based study with 41 participants, comparing nine different robot pre-touch cues. Our mixed-methods approach combined subjective ratings and interviews with objective measures such as eye-tracking. We found that greater perceived transparency significantly enhances perceived safety. Video Displays were most effective at improving clarity, while task-oriented touch was more readily accepted than emotion-oriented touch. Based on these findings, we propose evidence-based design guidelines for safer and more effective robot touch interaction.

Conventional remote collaboration relies primarily on visual and auditory communication, which may lead to insufficient immersive and embodied experience. This paper examines how integrating haptic feedback can enhance emotional engagement in remote interactions and explores design approaches for haptic systems tailored to remote collaboration contexts. We developed HapEmoji, a system featuring four emotion-based dynamic haptic patterns, enabling users to convey emotions during remote meetings through a wearable, flexible haptic interface. After two rounds of pilot studies refining the haptic pattern designs, we conducted a user study with 16 participants in a remote meeting context. The results show that the four haptic patterns were easily distinguishable, and participants reported that haptic feedback helped bridge emotional gaps between collaborators, encourage active participation and positive atmosphere, while facilitating transitions and maintaining engagement. Our findings suggest that haptic interfaces can strengthen emotional communication and have the potential to improve the efficiency of remote collaboration.

With the development of digital technology, tourists have higher expectations for their experiences with digital cultural heritage (CH). However, there is limited research and design guidelines on how to effectively convey expert knowledge and transfer the value and connotations of digital CH to users in a virtual environment. Based on existing literature, we proposed a systematic design strategy for immersive virtual reality (IVR) systems, incorporating multimodal interaction, gamification, and storytelling for CH presentation, development, and promotion to the public. Accordingly, taking the virtual restoration of the Dunhuang murals as an example, we developed an IVR system that provided users with learning, interactive, and entertaining experiences, facilitating their transition from mere visitors to active learners while engaging with digital CH. We conducted a between-subjects user study involving 42 participants. The results demonstrated that our IVR system motivated users interests in CH, promoted CH preservation awareness, and could be applied in the domain of digital CH experiences.