Entertainment vs. manipulation: Personalized human-robot interaction between user experience and ethical design

Abstract

A personalized human-robot interaction (HRI) can increase the acceptance of robots through positive effects on the user experience (UX), as well as the user's attitude towards and perception of the robot. From an ethical perspective, however, personalized HRI poses certain risks with regard to autonomy and manipulation of the users. Taking the scenario of a personalized quizmaster robot as an example, this paper combines the user-centered design of a personalized robot behavior with ethical design perspectives. Based on motivation strategies of the robot quiz master, the paper assesses and generalizes which interaction behaviors may be ethically permissible and at the same time enjoyable, engaging and motivating. Balancing the two perspectives of UX and ethical design, we propose transferable recommendations for the design of personalized HRI based on the approach of cascading models of design.