Being Hugged by a Social Robot during Tele-Counseling Reduces Anxiety in Individuals with Autism

Individuals with autism often experience discomfort during counseling sessions, as the process can heighten stress and anxiety due to sensory sensitivities, communication challenges, and difficulty expressing emotions. Hugs from artificial systems such as hug machines effectively reduce stress in such individuals. In this study, we facilitated a tele-counseling session that incorporated a remotely operated social robot capable of hugging participants. We employed Moffuly-MS, a large, fluffy, hugging robot with a rabbit-like appearance. The robot was controlled by a counselor, allowing for conversation and gesture triggering. Thirty-one men with autism participated in the experiment with a within-participant design of two factors: hug (with, without) and conversation (casual: e.g., favorite place, color and weather, private: e.g., personal strengths, weaknesses, and worries). They had a four-minute casual conversation followed by a four-minute private conversation with a counselor through the robot, which provided hugging stimuli based on predefined behavior execution rules. We compared conversations with/without hug interactions and measured anxiety levels through three metrics: electrodermal activity (EDA) levels, self-reported scores, and evaluator-reported scores in each condition. The results showed that EDA levels increased significantly in private conversations without hugging interaction; no such increase was observed during private conversations with hugging interaction. In addition, although the self-reported scores did not show any significant effects of robot hugs, the evaluator-reported scores showed significant calming effects. These results suggested that hug interactions with a robot like Moffuly in a tele-counseling context may help mitigate social stress.