This article presents the results of video-based Human Robot Interaction (HRI) trials which investigated people's perceptions of different robot appearances and associated attention-seeking features and behaviors displayed by robots with different appearance and behaviors. The HRI trials studied the participants' preferences for various features of robot appearance and behavior, as well as their personality attributions towards the robots compared to their own personalities. Overall, participants tended to prefer robots with more human-like appearance and attributes. However, systematic individual differences in the dynamic appearance ratings are not consistent with a universal effect. Introverts and participants with lower emotional stability tended to prefer the mechanical looking appearance to a greater degree than other participants. It is also shown that it is possible to rate individual elements of a particular robot's behavior and then assess the contribution, or otherwise, of The HRI study which provides the basis of the research presented in this article has been presented in preliminary form in two conference papers, Walters et al. (2007) andSyrdal et al. (2007b). that element to the overall perception of the robot by people. Relating participants' dynamic appearance ratings of individual robots to independent static appearance ratings provided evidence that could be taken to support a portion of the left hand side of Mori's theoretically proposed 'uncanny valley' diagram. Suggestions for future work are outlined.

Findings are presented from a Human Robot Interaction (HRI) Demonstration Trial where attendees approached a stationary mechanical looking robot to a comfortable distance. Instructions were given to participants by the robot using either a high quality male, a high quality female, a neutral synthesized voice, or by the experimenter (no robot voice). Approaches to the robot with synthesized voice were found to induce significantly further approach distances. Those who had experienced a previous encounter with the robot tended to approach closer to the robot. Possible reasons for this are discussed

We present results from an empirical study investigating the effect of embodiment and minimal gestures in an interactive drumming game consisting of an autonomous child-sized humanoid robot (KASPAR) playing with child participants. In this study, each participant played three games with a humanoid robot that played a drum whilst simultaneously making (or not making) head gestures. The three games included the participant interacting with the real robot (physical embodiment condition), interacting with a hidden robot when only the sound of the robot is heard (disembodiment condition; note that the term 'disembodiment' is used in this paper specifically to refer to an experimental condition where a physical robot produces the sound cues, but is not visible to the participants), or interacting with a real-time image of the robot (virtual embodiment condition). We used a mixed design where repeated measures were used to evaluate embodiment effects and independent-groups measures were used to study the gestures effects. Data from the implementation of a human???robot interaction experiment with 66 children are presented, and statistically analyzed in terms of participants' subjective experiences and drumming performance of the human???robot pair. The subjective experiences showed significant differences for the different embodiment conditions when gestures were used in terms of enjoyment of the game, and perceived intelligence and appearance of the robot. The drumming performance also differed significantly within the embodiment conditions and the presence of gestures increased these differences significantly. The presence of a physical, embodied robot enabled more interaction, better drumming and turn-taking, as well as enjoyment of the interaction, especially when the robot used gestures

The study presented in this paper explored the long-term effects of habituation. The issue of personalisation relationships between subject personality and preferences in and adaptivity which are necessary for a personalised robot the direction from which a robot approached the human companion [6] where a robot can adapt to a human's likes, participants (N=42) in order to deliver an object in a dislikes and preferences, is still an open issue in robotics. In naturalistic 'living room' setting. Personality was assessed the related field of Human-Computer Interaction, these using the Big Five Domain Scale. No consistent significant issues have traditionally been addressed by examining the relationships were found between personality traits and different needs that a system has to meet on the basis of the preferred approach directions; however, a consistent non-significant~~~~. trn wa fon.nwihhg crso h users' expertise, familiarity with the system, work role and personality trait extraversion was associated with a higher accessibility issues. However, there have been very few degree of tolerance to the approach directions rated overall as examples of systems that have taken into account the user's most uncomfortable. The implications of the results are personality traits in the design of adaptive systems [7], discussed both from a theoretical and methodological although some studies have found consistent effects of viewpoint. personality in the use of specific interfaces [8, 9] and virtual agents [10].

This article questions whether the dominant policy discourse, in which a normative model of standard employment is counterposed to 'non-standard' or 'atypical' employment, enables us to capture the diversity of fluid labour markets in which work is dynamically reshaped in an interaction between different kinds of employment status and work organisation. Drawing on surveys in the UK, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands that investigate work managed via online platforms ('crowdwork') and associated practices, it demonstrates that crowdwork represents part of a continuum. Not only do most crowd workers combine work for online platforms with other forms of work or income generation, but also many of the ICTrelated practices associated with crowdwork are widespread across the rest of the labour market where a growing number of workers are 'logged'. Future research should not just focus on crowdworkers as a special case but on new patterns of work organisation in the regular workforce.