Comparing How Soft Robotic Tentacles and an Equivalent Traditional Robot are Described

Abstract

Soft robotics technology has several technical benefits and enables inherently safer human-robot interaction (HRI). However, only few studies have addressed how people experience soft robots and how their embodiment and designs can meaningfully support HRI. The present study explores impressions formed in the physical meeting with soft robots. 94 participants interacted with one out of two soft robots or a similar traditional robot. Following interaction, they were asked what they thought the robot resembled and to describe the robot's appearance using five adjectives. The results show that different categories of items were used to describe each of the three robots' resemblances. Furthermore, a significant difference in the sentiment of the adjectives used was found - positive adjectives were predominantly used to describe the two soft robots, whereas there was an overweight of negative adjectives for the traditional robot.