Do People Spontaneously Take a Robot's Visual Perspective?

Abstract

This study takes a novel approach to the topic of perspective taking in HRI. In a human behavioral experiment, we examined whether and in what circumstances people spontaneously take a humanoid robot's visual perspective. We found that specific nonverbal behaviors displayed by a robot--namely, referential gaze and goal-directed reaching--led human viewers to take the robot's visual perspective, though marginally less frequently than when they encounter the same behaviors displayed by another human. This project identifies specific features of robot behavior that trigger spontaneous social-cognitive processes in human viewers and informs the design of interactive robots in the future.