Too big to be mistreated? Examining the role of robot size on perceptions of mistreatment

Abstract

Just as abusive behavior can play define the nature of a human-human interaction, mistreatment can play a similar role in Human-Robot Interaction. Earlier work demonstrated that people perceived a robot as more emotionally capable than a computer. This led to different perceptions of aggressive behavior (as mistreatment for a robot, but not so for a computer). This study is a follow-up to that work studying how much the morphology of a robot is responsible for changes in perceived emotional capability. We collected data from 80 participants. Participants interacted with a robot and a confederate who either acted aggressively or neutrally towards the robot. We hypothesized that a large robot would not be perceived as emotionally capable as a small robot, and that the large robot would not be seen as mistreated. The participants showed no significant perception of mistreatment toward the large robot. Participants also felt the large robot was less emotionally capable. We found that when verbal abuse was directed at a larger robot, participants would not consider such behavior mistreatment, but they would when similar abuse was directed at a child-size robot.