User Responses to a Humanoid Robot Observed in Real Life, Virtual Reality, 3D and 2D

Humanoid robots (i.e., robots with a human-like body) are projected to be mass marketed in the future in several fields of application. Today, however, user evaluations of humanoid robots are often based on mediated depictions rather than actual observations or interactions with a robot, which holds...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in psychology Vol. 12; p. 633178
Main Authors Mara, Martina, Stein, Jan-Philipp, Latoschik, Marc Erich, Lugrin, Birgit, Schreiner, Constanze, Hostettler, Rafael, Appel, Markus
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 15.04.2021
Subjects
human-robot interaction
humanoid robot
immediacy
presentation mode
Psychology
video
virtual reality
human-robot interaction
immediacy
virtual reality
humanoid robot
presentation mode
user evaluation
video
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Summary:Humanoid robots (i.e., robots with a human-like body) are projected to be mass marketed in the future in several fields of application. Today, however, user evaluations of humanoid robots are often based on mediated depictions rather than actual observations or interactions with a robot, which holds true not least for scientific user studies. People can be confronted with robots in various modes of presentation, among them (1) 2D videos, (2) 3D, i.e., stereoscopic videos, (3) immersive Virtual Reality (VR), or (4) live on site. A systematic investigation into how such differential modes of presentation influence user perceptions of a robot is still lacking. Thus, the current study systematically compares the effects of different presentation modes with varying immersive potential on user evaluations of a humanoid service robot. Participants ( = 120) observed an interaction between a humanoid service robot and an actor either on 2D or 3D video, via a virtual reality headset (VR) or live. We found support for the expected effect of the presentation mode on perceived immediacy. Effects regarding the degree of human likeness that was attributed to the robot were mixed. The presentation mode had no influence on evaluations in terms of eeriness, likability, and purchase intentions. Implications for empirical research on humanoid robots and practice are discussed.
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This article was submitted to Human-Media Interaction, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology
Edited by: Mohamed Chetouani, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France
Reviewed by: Hatice Kose, Istanbul Technical University, Turkey; Natalia Calvo-Barajas, Uppsala University, Sweden
ISSN:1664-1078
1664-1078
DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.633178