Communications of the ACM
Putting a Face on a Robot
A Georgia Institute of Technology survey found that people have varying preferences for the face of a personal robot, depending on their age and on the activities the robot will perform.
Credit: Georgia Tech News Center
Older and younger people have varying preferences for whether a personal robot should have a robotic, human, or mixed human-robot face, and they change their minds based on whether the robot will assist with personal care, chores, social interaction, or decision-making.
According to a new survey from the Georgia Institute of Technology, most college-aged respondents preferred a robotic appearance, while nearly 60 percent of older adults said they would want a robot with a human face. However, younger participants preferred a mixed human-robot appearance for help with decision-making such as investing money, and older adults preferred a robotic face for help with chores.
Both younger and older participants assigned emotional traits to a robot based on its face. For example, a mixed-face is perceived as more intelligent, and was chosen by younger respondents for decision-making tasks, while a robot face is perceived as impersonal, and was chosen by participants for personal care tasks.
The research suggests that robots designed for a specific task should have their appearance aligned with the attributes of the task.
From Georgia Tech News Center
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Abstracts Copyright © 2013 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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