Pygmy: A ring-shaped robotic device for storytelling

The human hand is an appropriate part to attach a puppetry device for storytelling. This paper presents a ring-shaped robotic puppetry device named Pygmy that attaches to the human hand and enables it to create a puppetry character by magnifying the finger expressions. This anthropomorphic device is a trial in the development of an interaction model of puppet-based storytelling through a robotic device on the hand. It is based on the concept of hand anthropomorphism, and it uses finger movements to create the anthropomorphic effect. Wearing this device is similar to having eyes and a mouth on the hand; the wearer's hand spontaneously expresses the puppetry with the emotions conveyed by the eyes and mouth. Interactive manipulation by controllers and sensors makes the hand look animated. We have observed that the character animated with the device facilitates user collaboration and interaction as though there were a living thing on the user's hand. Further, the users play with the robot by representing characters animated with Pygmy as their doubles. A video analysis of a case study with a parent and a child is also described in this paper because of its significance.