Looking Forward to a “Robotic Society”?

Abstract

This article reports on an explorative investigation comparing the notions of future human-robot relationships of the participants of a user study who interacted with a humanoid robot for the first time on the one hand, and those of experts from the industry on the other hand. By means of in-depth interviews, data on the following topics was gathered from 52 user study participants and six experts: (1) quality of life, health, and security, (2) working conditions and employment, (3) education, (4) cultural context. A content analysis of the interview material derived five key aspects of the future "robotic society": (1) replacement, (2) competition, (3) safety and supervision, (4) increasing productivity, (5) cost and benefit assessment. Furthermore, a description of what makes a robot different from a machine or a human could be obtained. Additionally, the interviews were supplemented by two standardized questionnaires to measure the participants' general attitude and acceptance towards robots. The article highlights the difference regarding viewpoints and understandings of the future human-robot relationships between novice users and experts.

Why Would I Use This in My Home? A Model of Domestic Social Robot Acceptance

“…The robot representations of our participants were similar to those presented by other researchers (European Commission, 2012;Ray et al, 2008;Weiss et al, 2011), which means that members from developed societies generally have similar ideas about what robots represent. Therefore, we believe that using text-based scenarios was an appropriate way to administer our study without prompting the participants with specific images of robots.…”

“…Moreover, robots for domestic use should also be socially accepted within our society. This is a process that involves emotional evaluations of the technology in addition to rational decisions to adopt a robot system (Scopelliti, Giuliani, & Fornara, 2005;Weiss, Igelsböck, Wurhofer, & Tscheligi, 2011). In addition, robots for domestic use must be accepted by households.…”

Great Expectations? Relation of Previous Experiences With Social Robots in Real Life or in the Media and Expectancies Based on Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment

“…Also, they have proved to be an important means by which people, who had no direct experience with a certain technology yet, can receive information about this technology (Kriz et al, 2010; Sundar et al, 2016). Robots are often depicted in science fiction movies and series and these portrayals probably influence future human–robot relationships (Weiss et al, 2011b). According to Khan (1998), the general impression people have of robots appears to originate from science fiction, which is why it should help us understand humans in their relation to robots better.…”

There’s More to Humanity Than Meets the Eye: Differences in Gaze Behavior Toward Women and Gynoid Robots

“…The video was used to create an understanding of how humanoid robots can nowadays look (e.g., having plastic or silicone skin and therefore having a more or less human-like appearance) and what their abilities are (e.g., expression non-verbal behavior, walking). This was important, as people tend to gather their information about and expectations toward robots from science fiction movies (Weiss et al, 2011). After the video, the second phase of the procedure took place as the experimenter started the eye-tracking task.…”