The Role of Perceived Eye Contact in Helping Robots

Abstract

As Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) becomes increasingly prevalent in various domains, understanding the role of non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, in these interactions is of paramount importance. This paper presents the results of a lab study that explores the effect of eye contact and perceived eye contact on response times related to helping behavior. We further investigate the impact of eye contact on attitudes and anthropomorphism. We observed no effect of eye contact on willingness to help. However, participants helped the robot significantly faster when they reported perceived eye contact. Results also point to the relevance of perceived eye contact in positive attitudes towards robots. Despite this, we found no effect of perceived eye contact on anthropomorphism perception. Our results further highlight implications of robot design, specifically the influence of proportionally exaggerated robot eyes and its effect on prosociality toward robots. Overall, this research contributes to the growing body of knowledge in the field of HRI and emphasizes the significance of perceived eye contact in the context of helping behavior.