A study on the social acceptance of a robot in a multi-human interaction using an F-formation based motion model

摘要

As robots participate in human's daily activities more and more frequently, mobility performance has become one of the main factors determining how robots will share an environment with humans harmoniously in the near future. Among several different kinds of mobile platforms, using omnidirectional configurations is gradually becoming a trend in the robotics community; however, few researchers have addressed the impact of omnidirectional mobility from the perspective of human-robot interaction (HRI). In this paper, we have proposed a socializing model for the robot while participating in an interaction with a group of human peers to achieve its socially optimal position. From a theoretic perspective, we first identify the most prominent features required for social acceptance of robots interacting with multiple humans, backing our arguments with relevant sociological theory. To validate our results, we have conducted experiments where human participants were invited to interact with a robot, which can be constrained to perform either holonomic or nonholonomic motions only. Then, through an observer survey, we testify the appropriateness of utilizing omnidirectional mobility and verify the promotion of social acceptance using the aforementioned features, which is a goal that both the HRI and robotics communities aim to achieve.