Evaluating Human Impressions of an Initiative-taking Robot

Abstract

Social robots can be applied in different settings to enhance experiences for humans. Understanding physical and behavioural aspects of robot design is important to promote acceptance in human-robot interaction. In this study, we focus on robot initiative-taking as a behavioural aspect and investigate how it influences human perception and emotion during human-robot interaction. We built on previous work using questionnaires to evaluate user impressions in the presence or absence of robot activeness (initiative-taking). We also used Galvanic skin response (GSR) as a physiological measure to gauge participants’ emotion during interaction. Questionnaire analysis confirmed that generally active robot behaviour improved human impression. Moreover, the order of interaction seems to matter for participants to take more notice of robot initiative-taking. GSR analysis supported the questionnaire results, showing that on average participants were more emotionally aroused during an active interaction and that order of interaction somewhat mattered.