Attuning to robots: reframing empathy through movement improvisation in human-robot interaction

As an alternative to dominant models of empathy in human–robot interaction (HRI) that rely on behavioral mimicry and resemblance, this article proposes an embodied model of empathy grounded in attunement. We identify three interrelated dimensions of attunement – perceptual, affinity, and kinesthetic – to articulate a relational, movement-centered account of empathic engagement. Drawing on insights from the performing arts, particularly movement improvisation, we argue that such practices provide a fertile framework for understanding how empathy may arise through dynamic coupling rather than imitation. Through analyses of Eingeweide by Marco Donnarumma and Dances of/with a Robot Arm, a practice-based research project by one of the authors, we demonstrate how attunement in HRI can emerge through the mutual modulation of movement dynamics, without presuming morphological or behavioral similarity between human and robot.