Designing Robot Embodiments for Social Interaction: Affordances Topple Realism and Aesthetics

Abstract

In the near future, human-like social robots will become indispensable for providing support in various social tasks, in particular for healthcare (e.g., assistance, coaching). The perception of realism, in particular human-like features, can help facilitate mediated social interaction. The current study investigated the effects of form realism on engagement with and use intentions of social robot embodiments. We have defined (perceived) form realism as the result of the appraisal of features that are perceived as realistic contrasted with those appraised as unrealistic. To test the effects of form realism, we applied the model of interactively perceiving and experiencing fictional characters (I-PEFiC). I-PEFiC explains how users respond to interactive, fictional, humanoid characters, on social robots. In a within-subjects design, participants (N = 29; M age = 28.8 years, age range 18-56 years) interacted with three different robots built from LEGO Mindstorms, which differed in their degree of designed form realism. Each robot presented itself as a physiotherapy assistant and requested the participant to do several exercises. Results of a structured questionnaire indicated that form realism only played a modest role in the perception of electro-mechanical robots. Instead, the perception of affordances appeared to be crucial for determining engagement and intentions to use social robots.

Perceptions of healthcare robots as a function of emotion-based coping: The importance of coping appraisals and coping strategies

“…Perceptions of the robot were measured using the relevant Likert-type subscales from a well-tested questionnaire to assess relevant perceptions of fictional or virtual characters as applied to humanoid robots (I-PEFiC; e.g., Van Vugt, Konijn, Hoorn, & Veldhuis, 2009;Paauwe, Hoorn, Konijn, & Keyson, 2015). Participants indicated on 5-point rating scales (1 ¼ "does not fit me at all" to 5 ¼ "fits me very well") how much each of the items was in accordance with how they perceived the robot.…”

Being Perceived and Being “Seen”: Interpersonal Affordances, Agency, and Selfhood

“…It could also mean facilitating direct exchange between agents in a virtual space, such as with a messaging app. This usage of the term is also becoming widespread in areas that study human-technology interaction and mediation, such as networking technology (e.g., Bradner, 2001 ) and social robotics (e.g., Paauwe et al, 2015 ).…”

Me and My Robot Smiled at One Another: The Process of Socially Enacted Communicative Affordance in Human-Machine Communication

“…able to recognize each other and engage in social interactions" (Fong et al, 2003, p. 144). This body enables them to both perceive and act socially in their environment (Paauwe et al, 2015). Further, an agents' corporality is intrinsically related to how the body allows the robot not only to sense its environment and act in response to it, but also to exert an action as an agent in the environment (Wiltshire et al, 2013).…”

“…Integrating these approaches is necessary, as the term affordance has been inconsistently defined in the past. For instance, in robotics affordances have been mostly conceptualized in terms of the capabilities of robots to physically interact in their environment, such as recognizing and lifting objects (Horton et al, 2012;Paauwe et al, 2015). In contrast, communication science views affordances mostly in a human-centered way, focusing on what users can obtain from using technologies such as SNSs (boyd, 2010).…”