Can Human Jobs be Taken by Robots?

Abstract

Background : Autonomous robot can be controlled with its full autonomy without a robot operator and telepresence robot enables a live two-way video or audio communication to deliver the presence of communicators. In this study, we compared autonomous robot vs. telepresence robot vs. human when an objective or subjective task was given in an art appraising situation.In order to investigate the appropriate match between robot types and task types, we explored the impact of robot types and task types on perceived social presence of the robot and willingness to follow the robot’s advice. Methods : In a 2 (robot types: autonomous robot vs. telepresence robot vs. human) x 2 (task types: objective task vs. subjective task) mixed-participants experiment (N=30), participants experienced two task type scenarios with either the autonomous robot, the telepresence robot or the human art appraiser. Result : Participants perceived more social presence of the human and the telepresence robot than of the autonomous robot. In addition, when the robot performed the objective task, participants tended to follow the robot’s advice more than when it performed the subjective task regardless of its autonomy level. In the case of the objective task, people were more willing to follow the autonomous robot’s advice than that of the telepresence robot or human. On the other hand, in the case of the subjective task, people were more willing to follow the human’s advice than the advice of the telepresence robot and the autonomous robot. Conclusions The results indicate that people’s perceptions of robots are different depending on the robot types and the attributes of given tasks. This study suggests that robot developers or designers should consider the appropriate match between robot types and task types. Implications for the design of human-robot interactions are discussed.