Embodiment and Human-Robot Interaction: A Task-Based Perspective Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • In this work, we further test the hypothesis that physical embodiment has a measurable effect on performance and impression of social interactions. Support for this hypothesis would suggest fundamental differences between virtual agents and robots from a social standpoint and would have significant implications for human-robot interaction. We have refined our task-based metrics to give a measurement, not only of the participant's immediate impressions of a coach for a task, but also of the participant's performance in a given task. We measure task performance and participants' impression of a robot's social abilities in a structured task based on the Towers of Hanoi puzzle. Our experiment compares aspects of embodiment by evaluating: (1) the difference between a physical robot and a simulated one; and (2) the effect of physical presence through a co-located robot versus a remote, tele-present robot. With a participant pool (n=21) of roboticists and nonroboticists, we were able to show that participants felt that an embodied robot was more appealing and perceptive of the world than non-embodied robots. A larger pool of participants (n=32) also demonstrated that the embodied robot was seen as most helpful, watchful, and enjoyable when compared to a remote tele-present robot and a simulated robot. 2007 IEEE.

name of conference

  • RO-MAN 2007 - The 16th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication

published proceedings

  • RO-MAN 2007 - The 16th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication

author list (cited authors)

  • Wainer, J., Feil-Seifer, D. J., Shell, D. A., & Matari, M. J.

citation count

  • 130

complete list of authors

  • Wainer, Joshua||Feil-Seifer, David J||Shell, Dylan A||Matarić, Maja J

publication date

  • August 2007