Abstract
The application of anthropomorphic design features is widely believed to facilitate human–robot interaction. However, the preference for robots’ anthropomorphism is highly context sensitive, as different application domains induce different expectations towards robots. In this study the influence of application domain on the preferred degree of anthropomorphism is examined. Moreover, as anthropomorphic design can reinforce existing gender stereotypes of different work domains, gender associations were investigated. Therefore, participants received different context descriptions and subsequently selected and named one robot out of differently anthropomorphic robots in an online survey. The results indicate that lower degrees of anthropomorphism are preferred in the industrial domain and higher degrees of anthropomorphism in the social domain, whereas no clear preference was found in the service domain. Unexpectedly, mainly functional names were ascribed to the robots and if human names were chosen, male names were given more frequently than female names even in the social domain. The results support the assumption that the preferred degree of anthropomorphism depends on the context. Hence, the sociability of a domain might determine to what extent anthropomorphic design features are suitable. Furthermore, the results indicate that robots are overall associated more functional, than gendered (and if gendered then masculine). Therefore, the design features of robots should enhance functionalities, rather than specific gendered anthropomorphic attributes to avoid stereotypes and not further reinforce the association of masculinity and technology.
Highlights
The idea of human-like machines that free mankind from labor has been addressed extensively since decades in literature, movies and research
Even though the term robot seems to be intuitively bonded with an association of anthropomorphism, the question arises, whether this really is desirable in all working environments
To examine whether the anthropomorphism tendency had an influence on the choice of anthropomorphic robots, it was analyzed whether within the three fields of application, individuals with a higher or lower IDAQ score were more likely to choose certain anthropomorphic robots
Summary
The idea of human-like machines that free mankind from labor has been addressed extensively since decades in literature, movies and research. The transfer of human-like features to non-living objects like machines that accompanies this idea is referred to as anthropomorphism and has been widely adapted in different forms and contexts in human–robot interaction (HRI) [1]. Current research in social HRI shows the constant trend that anthropomorphic design can facilitate the building of meaningful relationships to achieve a more fluent and socially situated interaction [5]. Even though the term robot seems to be intuitively bonded with an association of anthropomorphism, the question arises, whether this really is desirable in all working environments. In work-related interactions, anthropomorphism of robots, implemented via appearance, communication or movement style and robot description [1], can lead to an underestimation of the functional character and perceived value of the robot for task fulfillment [6,7,8]
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