The Impact of User Control Design Types on People's Perception of a Robot

Abstract

This study suggests user control design as a way to increase social acceptance and usability of a robot. We executed a 3 (user control design: anthropomorphic control vs. non-anthropomorphic control vs. remote controller control) within-participants experiment design (N=24). When participants controlled a robot more anthropomorphically, they perceived a robot more sociable and were more satisfied with the service provided by a robot. This study provides evidence that user control design could be effectively used to increase social acceptance as well as usability of a robot. Implications for the design of human-robot interaction are discussed.