Contextual Factors in the Appearance of Consumer Robots: Exploratory Assessment of Perceived Anxiety Toward Humanlike Consumer Robots

Abstract

The authors use the "uncanny valley theory" as a diagnostic lens to better understand consumers' perceptions of humanlike consumer robots in different contexts. The results demonstrate that individuals were indifferent about the extent of the humanness of robotic images in the context of touching the robots. However, respondents showed more concern for robotic images' similarity to humans in the contexts of communicating with robots, watching robots in a movie, and living in the same house with robots. One key contribution of the study includes the initial empirical foundation for understanding individual evaluation of the appearance of consumer robots in a variety of contexts.