Interaction between Vleo and Pleo, a virtual social character and a social robot

In this paper we explore the field of human robot interaction (HRI) by adding a new non-physical player in the interaction rather than only humans and robots. It is a proven fact that physical robots enhance the immersion perception compared to only virtual agents. Thus, we created a shared environment with a Pleo Robot and a Virtual Pleo Robot, which we called Vleo, connected through a server to explore this new paradigm in order to see if the engagement during the interaction is improved in intensity and duration. A straightforward set of interactions between Pleo and Vleo have been designed to create narratives and therefore, tested with a group of 8-12 year old children. Results from the test suggest that virtual social robots are a good way to enhance interaction with physical social robots.