Abstract
Robots are gaining an increasingly important role in industrial production. Notably, a high level of acceptance is an important factor for co-working situation between human and robot. The aim of the present study was to investigate the differences in the perception of anthropomorphic and robotic movements using models consisting of a virtual robot and a digital human. Videos of each model displayed different degrees of human likeness or robot likeness in speed and trajectories of placing movements. Female and male participants were asked to rate on a Likert scale the perceived levels of human likeness or robot likeness in the two models. Overall, results suggest that males were sensitive to the differences between robotic and anthropomorphic movements, whereas females showed no difference between them. However, compared to males, female participants attributed more anthropomorphic features to robotic movements. The study is a first step toward a more comprehensive understanding of the human ability to differentiate between anthropomorphic and robotic movements and suggests a crucial role of gender in the human-robot interaction.
Highlights
Human-robot interaction is becoming prevalent in industrial production, healthcare industry, and rehabilitation (Karwowski, 1991)
The aim of our study was to test the ability of two groups of male and female participants to differentiate between robotic and anthropomorphic movements performed by two different robot models: (1) a virtual representation of a gantry robot, and (2) a digital human model
We found no significant interaction between model and movement type, F(1, 38) = 1.559, p = 0.219, η2p = 0.04, and between gender and model, F(1, 38) = 0.439, p = 0.512, η2p = 0.01
Summary
Human-robot interaction is becoming prevalent in industrial production, healthcare industry, and rehabilitation (Karwowski, 1991). While safety is important in these contexts, human acceptance of robots as partners is essential for their successful implementation (Karwowski and Rahimi, 1991; Karwowski et al, 1988a,b, 1991a,b, 2018; Karwowski, 2019). The influence of anthropomorphism, that is, the simulation of human characteristics by robots, is being investigated by several research groups (i.e., Duffy, 2003; Kuz et al, 2013). Conventional robots used in industry are fully automated systems that work reliably and efficiently without consideration for the human co-worker’s sense of comfort. The worker should be able to trust the systems (Kuz et al, 2013) and should exhibit an elevated rate of acceptance of the anthropomorphic robot as a co-worker. In line of principle, when this aim is reached, an optimal combination of human and anthropomorphic abilities is obtained that in turn brings to increases of productivity Krach et al, 2008)
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