From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration

Jie Yu; Xinyi Zhang; Yaqiong Luo; Ray Lc; Kaishun Wu; Xin Tong

doi:10.1145/3772318.3790270

From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration

Jie Yu (Co-first Author)
, Xinyi Zhang (Co-first Author)
, Yaqiong Luo
, Ray Lc
, Kaishun Wu
, Xin Tong^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Creative Media

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

7 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Human-robot creative collaboration is often constrained by command-response paradigms that position robots as tools rather than partners. While expressive robotics has shown social values, its role and behaviors in shaping creative partnerships with humans remains underexplored. Therefore, we investigate how robots' expressive behaviors influence co-creative engagement. In a formative study with 5 participants, we identified design insights for users to perceive a robot arm's expressive behaviors. We then implemented these expressive behaviors and conducted a within-subject study with 18 participants, comparing functional-only and expressive conditions in figure drawing tasks. Results showed that expressive behaviors significantly enhanced human-robot collaboration where they shifted from viewing the robot as a tool to a partner with a stronger emotional connection and collaborative satisfaction. Our contributions include empirical evidence of partnership transformation and design insights for facilitating human-robot creative collaboration. © 2026 the owner/author(s).

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Editors	Nuria Oliver, David A. Shamma, Heloisa Candello, Pablo Cesar, Pedro Lopes, Alessandro Bozzon, Thomas Kosch, Vera Liao, Xiaojuan Ma, Valentino Artizzu, Fiona Draxler, Gustavo López, Anke V. Reinschluessel, Xin Tong, Phoebe O. Toups Dugas
Place of Publication	New York, NY
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Number of pages	22
ISBN (Print)	9798400722783
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790270
Publication status	Published - Apr 2026
Event	2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026): Creating Tomorrow Together - Centre de Convencions Internacional de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain Duration: 13 Apr 2026 → 17 Apr 2026 https://chi2026.acm.org/

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)
Abbreviated title	CHI'26
Place	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	13/04/26 → 17/04/26
Internet address	https://chi2026.acm.org/

Funding

The authors would like to thank the participants who took part in our study. This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 62472366), the Project of DEGP (No. 2023KCXTD042, 2024GCZX003), Guangdong Provincial Key Lab of Integrated Communication, Sensing and Computation for Ubiquitous Internet of Things (No. 2023B1212010007), 111 Center (No. D25008) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Foundation (ZDSYS20190902092853047). Special thanks go to the Computational Media and Arts Lab at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) for providing the experimental facilities and equipment throughout this project.

Research Keywords

Co-creation
Collaboration
Empirical study
Robot

Publisher's Copyright Statement

This full text is made available under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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10.1145/3772318.3790270

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Yu, J., Zhang, X., Luo, Y., Lc, R., Wu, K., & Tong, X. (2026). From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration. In N. Oliver, D. A. Shamma, H. Candello, P. Cesar, P. Lopes, A. Bozzon, T. Kosch, V. Liao, X. Ma, V. Artizzu, F. Draxler, G. López, A. V. Reinschluessel, X. Tong, & P. O. Toups Dugas (Eds.), CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Article 821 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790270

Yu, Jie ; Zhang, Xinyi ; Luo, Yaqiong et al. / From Tool to Partner : Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration. CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. editor / Nuria Oliver ; David A. Shamma ; Heloisa Candello ; Pablo Cesar ; Pedro Lopes ; Alessandro Bozzon ; Thomas Kosch ; Vera Liao ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Valentino Artizzu ; Fiona Draxler ; Gustavo López ; Anke V. Reinschluessel ; Xin Tong ; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. New York, NY : Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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title = "From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration",

abstract = "Human-robot creative collaboration is often constrained by command-response paradigms that position robots as tools rather than partners. While expressive robotics has shown social values, its role and behaviors in shaping creative partnerships with humans remains underexplored. Therefore, we investigate how robots' expressive behaviors influence co-creative engagement. In a formative study with 5 participants, we identified design insights for users to perceive a robot arm's expressive behaviors. We then implemented these expressive behaviors and conducted a within-subject study with 18 participants, comparing functional-only and expressive conditions in figure drawing tasks. Results showed that expressive behaviors significantly enhanced human-robot collaboration where they shifted from viewing the robot as a tool to a partner with a stronger emotional connection and collaborative satisfaction. Our contributions include empirical evidence of partnership transformation and design insights for facilitating human-robot creative collaboration. {\textcopyright} 2026 the owner/author(s).",

keywords = "Co-creation, Collaboration, Empirical study, Robot",

author = "Jie Yu and Xinyi Zhang and Yaqiong Luo and Ray Lc and Kaishun Wu and Xin Tong",

year = "2026",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1145/3772318.3790270",

language = "English",

isbn = "9798400722783",

series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings",

publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",

editor = "Nuria Oliver and Shamma, \{David A.\} and Heloisa Candello and Pablo Cesar and Pedro Lopes and Alessandro Bozzon and Thomas Kosch and Vera Liao and Xiaojuan Ma and Valentino Artizzu and Fiona Draxler and Gustavo L{\'o}pez and Reinschluessel, \{Anke V.\} and Xin Tong and \{Toups Dugas\}, \{Phoebe O.\}",

booktitle = "CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

address = "United States",

note = "2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026) : Creating Tomorrow Together, CHI'26 ; Conference date: 13-04-2026 Through 17-04-2026",

url = "https://chi2026.acm.org/",

}

Yu, J, Zhang, X, Luo, Y, Lc, R, Wu, K & Tong, X 2026, From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration. in N Oliver, DA Shamma, H Candello, P Cesar, P Lopes, A Bozzon, T Kosch, V Liao, X Ma, V Artizzu, F Draxler, G López, AV Reinschluessel, X Tong & PO Toups Dugas (eds), CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 821, Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, 2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026), Barcelona, Spain, 13/04/26. https://doi.org/10.1145/3772318.3790270

From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration. / Yu, Jie (Co-first Author); Zhang, Xinyi (Co-first Author); Luo, Yaqiong et al.
CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ed. / Nuria Oliver; David A. Shamma; Heloisa Candello; Pablo Cesar; Pedro Lopes; Alessandro Bozzon; Thomas Kosch; Vera Liao; Xiaojuan Ma; Valentino Artizzu; Fiona Draxler; Gustavo López; Anke V. Reinschluessel; Xin Tong; Phoebe O. Toups Dugas. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery, 2026. 821 (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapters, Conference Papers, Creative and Literary Works › RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication) › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - From Tool to Partner

T2 - 2026 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2026)

AU - Yu, Jie

AU - Zhang, Xinyi

AU - Luo, Yaqiong

AU - Lc, Ray

AU - Wu, Kaishun

AU - Tong, Xin

PY - 2026/4

Y1 - 2026/4

N2 - Human-robot creative collaboration is often constrained by command-response paradigms that position robots as tools rather than partners. While expressive robotics has shown social values, its role and behaviors in shaping creative partnerships with humans remains underexplored. Therefore, we investigate how robots' expressive behaviors influence co-creative engagement. In a formative study with 5 participants, we identified design insights for users to perceive a robot arm's expressive behaviors. We then implemented these expressive behaviors and conducted a within-subject study with 18 participants, comparing functional-only and expressive conditions in figure drawing tasks. Results showed that expressive behaviors significantly enhanced human-robot collaboration where they shifted from viewing the robot as a tool to a partner with a stronger emotional connection and collaborative satisfaction. Our contributions include empirical evidence of partnership transformation and design insights for facilitating human-robot creative collaboration. © 2026 the owner/author(s).

AB - Human-robot creative collaboration is often constrained by command-response paradigms that position robots as tools rather than partners. While expressive robotics has shown social values, its role and behaviors in shaping creative partnerships with humans remains underexplored. Therefore, we investigate how robots' expressive behaviors influence co-creative engagement. In a formative study with 5 participants, we identified design insights for users to perceive a robot arm's expressive behaviors. We then implemented these expressive behaviors and conducted a within-subject study with 18 participants, comparing functional-only and expressive conditions in figure drawing tasks. Results showed that expressive behaviors significantly enhanced human-robot collaboration where they shifted from viewing the robot as a tool to a partner with a stronger emotional connection and collaborative satisfaction. Our contributions include empirical evidence of partnership transformation and design insights for facilitating human-robot creative collaboration. © 2026 the owner/author(s).

KW - Co-creation

KW - Collaboration

KW - Empirical study

KW - Robot

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038688720

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038688720#tab=impact

U2 - 10.1145/3772318.3790270

DO - 10.1145/3772318.3790270

M3 - RGC 32 - Refereed conference paper (with host publication)

SN - 9798400722783

T3 - Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

BT - CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

A2 - Oliver, Nuria

A2 - Shamma, David A.

A2 - Candello, Heloisa

A2 - Cesar, Pablo

A2 - Lopes, Pedro

A2 - Bozzon, Alessandro

A2 - Kosch, Thomas

A2 - Liao, Vera

A2 - Ma, Xiaojuan

A2 - Artizzu, Valentino

A2 - Draxler, Fiona

A2 - López, Gustavo

A2 - Reinschluessel, Anke V.

A2 - Tong, Xin

A2 - Toups Dugas, Phoebe O.

PB - Association for Computing Machinery

CY - New York, NY

Y2 - 13 April 2026 through 17 April 2026

ER -

Yu J, Zhang X, Luo Y, Lc R, Wu K, Tong X. From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration. In Oliver N, Shamma DA, Candello H, Cesar P, Lopes P, Bozzon A, Kosch T, Liao V, Ma X, Artizzu V, Draxler F, López G, Reinschluessel AV, Tong X, Toups Dugas PO, editors, CHI'26 - Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. 2026. 821. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Epub 2026 Apr 13. doi: 10.1145/3772318.3790270

From Tool to Partner: Expressive Behaviors as the Bridge to Human-Robot Creative Collaboration

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Funding

Research Keywords

Publisher's Copyright Statement

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