Evaluating people's perceptions of an agent as a public speaking coach

Abstract

Abstract The use of interactive tools, such as voice assistants and social robots, holds promise as coaching aids during public speaking rehearsals. To create a coach that is both effective and likable, it is important to understand how people perceive these agents when they observe them during actual presentation sessions. Specifically, it is important to assess people’s perceptions of the agents’ physical embodiment and nonverbal social behaviour, taking into account both listening and feedback periods. To this end, we conducted an online study with 168 participants who watched videos of agents acting as public speaking coaches. The study had three conditions: two with a humanoid social robot in either (1) active listening mode, using nonverbal backchannelling, (2) passive listening mode, and (3) a voice assistant agent. The results showed that the social robot in both conditions was perceived more positively in terms of its human-like attributes, and likability than the voice assistant agent. The active listener robot was perceived as more satisfying, more engaging, more natural, and warmer than the voice assistant agent, but this difference was not seen between the passive listener robot and the voice assistant agent. Additionally, the active listener robot was found to be more natural than the passive listening robot. However, there were no significant differences in perceived intelligence, competence, discomfort, and helpfulness between the three agents. Finally, participants’ gender and personality traits were found to affect their evaluations of the agents. The study offered insights into general attitudes towards using social robots and voice assistants as public speaking coaches, which can guide the future design and use of these agents as coaches.