Reconfiguring spatial formation arrangement by robot body orientation

Abstract

An information-presenting robot is expected to establish an appropriate spatial relationship with people. Drawing upon sociological studies of spatial relationships involving ¿F-formation¿ and ¿body torque,¿ we examined the effect of a robot rotating its body on the reconfiguration of the F-formation arrangement. The results showed that a robot can change the position of a visitor by rotating its body. We also confirmed that to reconfigure the F-formation arrangement, it is more effective to rotate the whole body of the robot than only its head.