Impact of continuous eye contact of a humanoid robot on user experience and interactions with professional user background

Abstract

This work investigates the impact of simply keeping eye-contact on users' perceptions of the humanoid robot NAO during the carry and handover phases of a fetch- and-handover scenario. Two conditions of NAO looking either towards its planned path or towards the human test subject's face are implemented in a within-subjects design. Evaluations of user experience and acceptance are conducted based on evaluated measures of human-robot interaction. The results of the user study reveal a significant increase of anthropomorphism, animacy, and social presence in the eye-contact condition even without an intelligent gaze control implementation. Additionally, significant interactions with the professional background of the test participants are found.