Anthropomorphic Design Research Articles

I can feel AI failure: the impact of service failure type and failure assessment on customer recovery expectation

PurposeBased on appraisal theory and social response theory, this study aims to explore the mechanism of AI failure types on consumer recovery expectation from the perspective of service failure assessment and validate the moderate role of anthropomorphism level.Design/methodology/approachThree scenario-based experiments were conducted to validate the research model. First, to test the effect of robot service failure types on customer recovery expectation; second, to further test the mediating role of perceived controllability, perceived stability and perceived severity; finally, to verify the moderating effect of anthropomorphic level.FindingsNon-functional failures reduce consumer recovery expectation compared to functional failures; perceived controllability and perceived severity play a mediating role in the impact of service failure types on recovery expectation; the influence of service failure types on perceived controllability and perceived severity is moderated by the anthropomorphism level.Originality/valueThe findings enrich the influence mechanism and boundary conditions of service failure types, and have implications for online enterprise follow-up service recovery and improvement of anthropomorphic design.

How to leverage anthropomorphism for chatbot service interfaces: The interplay of communication style and personification

Although chatbots are oftentimes used in customer service encounters, interactions are oftentimes perceived as not satisfactory. One key aspect for designing chatbots is the use of anthropomorphic design elements. In this experimental study, we examine the two anthropomorphic chatbot design elements of personification, which includes a human-like appearance, and social orientation of communication style, which means a more sensitive and extensive communication. We tested the influence of the two design elements on social presence, satisfaction, trust and empathy towards a chatbot. First, the results show a significant influence of both anthropomorphic design elements on social presence. Second, our findings illustrate that social presence influences trusting beliefs, empathy, and satisfaction. Third, social presence acts as a mediator for both anthropomorphic design elements for satisfaction with a chatbot. Our implications provide a better understanding of anthropomorphic chatbot design elements when designing chatbots for short-term interactions, and we offer actionable implications for practice that enable more effective chatbot implementations.

“It's not Paul, it's a robot”: The impact of linguistic framing and the evolution of trust and distrust in a collaborative robot during a human-robot interaction

An appropriate level of human-robot trust is widely acknowledged as a crucial factor for successful human-robot interaction (HRI). Previous research has addressed anthropomorphic design but mostly neglected linguistic framing as a means to influence trust by altering the perceived human-likeness of a robot. Similarly, time-dependant patterns of trust and distrust during an HRI have rarely been investigated, hindering the development of a coherent theoretical framework on framing effects, their formation conditions, and their relation to trust and distrust evolution in the HRI context. A previous online study suggested that linguistic framing modulates inexperienced factory workers’ trust in a collaborative robot at the workplace. This article presents a follow-up study with a sample of students and an realistic HRI setting. Despite using similar framing stimuli, the study failed to replicate significant framing effects on trust, suggesting their context-sensitivity and dependence on individual characteristics of the recipients of the framing. Additionally, a significant increase in trust and decrease in distrust during the HRI highlights the need for time-dependant considerations. The results call for a more fine-grained investigation of linguistic framing effects as well as of trust and distrust evolution in order to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework applicable to the HRI context.

The influence of anthropomorphic appearance of artificial intelligence products on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different product types

While artificial intelligence products are widely used in the market, their anthropomorphic appearance design is becoming a frontier issue in product strategy and consumer behavior research. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. It was conducted in China, a new but rapidly-growing country in the field of Internet, AI technology and AI product consumption. This study conducted four situational experiments with a 2 (anthropomorphic design: anthropomorphic vs. non-anthropomorphic) × 2 (product type: hedonic vs. utilitarian) between subjects’ experimental design. Data was collected from 1172 Chinese “Digital Natives” by using a structured questionnaire. The findings revealed that for hedonic AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived entertainment, and intelligence level significantly moderates the mediating effect of perceived entertainment; while for practical AI products, anthropomorphic appearance improves consumers' purchase intention and brand evaluation through perceived usefulness, and intelligence level does not significantly moderate the mediating effect of perceived usefulness. There is no significant moderating effect of intelligence level on perceived usefulness. The study contributes to development and validation of a more comprehensive understanding and theoretical foundation of anthropomorphism, and furthermore explores the impact of anthropomorphic appearance on consumer behavior and brand evaluation under different AI product types. This study also provides insights for companies to apply anthropomorphic strategies.

The effect of robot anthropomorphism on revisit intentions after service failure: a moderated serial mediation model

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine how robotic anthropomorphism and personalized design may affect consumers' reactions to brands after service failure.Design/methodology/approachThis study conducted two studies based on cognitive appraisal theory and artificial intelligence device acceptance theory. Study 1 explored the mechanisms by which the type of anthropomorphic design of the service robot (humanoid robot/nonhumanoid robot) influenced revisit intention after service failure through a one-factor between-subjects design based on a restaurant dining scenario. Study 2 was based on a hotel check-in scenario and explored the moderating effect of robot personalization design on the above mechanisms through a 2 (anthropomorphic design: humanoid robot/nonhumanoid robot) × 2 (personalized design: self-name/no name) between-subjects design.FindingsStudy 1 shows that consumers have higher performance expectations for nonhumanoid robots, leading to a higher tolerance for service failure, which in turn generates higher revisit intentions. Study 2 shows that consumers' performance expectations are significantly enhanced after custom naming of humanoid robots, so the serial mediation mechanism for the effect of robot anthropomorphic design on revisit intention does not hold.Originality/valueThis study extends the research of artificial intelligence device acceptance theory in the field of service failure and exploratively proposes an intervention mechanism for the negative effects of the anthropomorphic design of service robots.

Do Anthropomorphic Chatbots Increase Counseling Satisfaction and Reuse Intention? The Moderated Mediation of Social Rapport and Social Anxiety.

The growing demand for mental health services and artificial intelligence chatbots to replace human agents have led to increased attention to chatbot anthropomorphizing. This study explored the effect of anthropomorphism on counseling satisfaction and reuse intention for chatbot-led mental health counseling and the mediating role of social rapport in the relationship. This study also examined the interaction effect of anthropomorphism and social anxiety on counseling satisfaction and reuse intention. A total of 374 U.S. adults were recruited from an online crowdsourcing company to simulate user-chatbot interactions in the context of mental health counseling. Two chatbots either with a high anthropomorphic design (i.e., human face) or low anthropomorphic design (i.e., robot face) were developed through Dialogflow-a natural language processing engine-to examine the hypotheses. The results revealed that the high anthropomorphic design produced higher counseling satisfaction and reuse intention than the low anthropomorphic design, while this relationship is mediated by the perceived social rapport between chatbot counselors and users. The results further revealed a significant interaction effect of anthropomorphism and social anxiety on counseling satisfaction and reuse intention. The findings of this study are expected to (a) enhance the understanding of the effect of anthropomorphic chatbots on counseling satisfaction and reuse intention, (b) clarify moderating effects of social rapport and social anxiety, and (c) help mental health practitioners and chatbot designers by providing a psychological mechanism of how anthropomorphism functions in the context of human-chatbot interaction.

Effects of Anthropomorphic Design Cues of Chatbots on Users’ Perception and Visual Behaviors

Measurement of users’ perception and visual behaviors to anthropomorphic design cues of chatbots can improve our understanding of chatbots and potentially optimize chatbot design. However, as two typical and basic features, how chatbot appearances and conversational styles jointly affect users’ perception and visual behaviors remains unclear. Therefore, this study conducted an eye-tracking experiment to explore users’ perception and visual behaviors. Results indicate that anthropomorphic appearances and human-like conversational styles jointly increased users’ perception of chatbots’ social presence, trust in chatbots, and satisfaction with chatbots. In contrast, on users’ visual behaviors, such a joint effect was not found, although chatbots with higher anthropomorphic appearances and human-like conversational styles triggered more fixation counts and longer dwell time. These findings suggest that anthropomorphic appearance and human-like conversational style can improve users’ perception and attract more visual attention to chatbots. These findings provide theoretical contributions and practical implications for relevant researchers and designers.

Leveraging Low Code Development of Smart Personal Assistants: An Integrated Design Approach with the SPADE Method

ABSTRACT Smart personal assistants (SPAs), such as Alexa for example, promise individualized user interactions owing to their varying interaction possibilities, knowledgeability, and human-like behaviors. To support the widespread adoption and use of SPAs, organizations such as Google or Amazon provide low code environments that support the development of SPAs (e.g., for Google Home or Amazon’s Alexa). These so-called low code platforms enable domain experts (e.g., business users without programming skills or experience) to develop SPAs for their purposes. However, using these platforms alone does not guarantee a useful and good conversation with novel SPAs due to non-intuitive design choices. Following a design science research approach, we propose the Smart Personal Assistant for Domain Experts (SPADE) method to address the missing link. This method supports domain experts in the development and contextualization of sophisticated SPAs for various application scenarios and focuses especially on conversational and anthropomorphic design steps. Our proof of concept and proof of value results show that SPADE is useful for supporting domain experts to create effective SPAs in different domains beyond private set-ups.

Highly Anthropomorphic Finger Design With a Novel Friction Clutch for Achieving Human-Like Reach-and-Grasp Movements.

In the design of prosthetic hand fingers, achieving human-like movement while meeting anthropomorphic demands such as appearance, size, and lightweight is quite challenging. Human finger movement involves two distinct motion characters during natural reach-and-grasp tasks: consistency in the reaching stage and adaptability in the grasping stage. The former one enhances grasp stability and reduces control complexity; the latter one promotes the adaptability of finger to various objects. However, conventional tendon-driven prosthetic finger designs typically incorporate bulky actuation modules or complex tendon routes to reconcile the consistency and adaptability. In contrast, we propose a novel friction clutch consisting of a single tendon and slider, which is simple and compact enough to be configurated within the metacarpal bone. Through tactfully exploiting the friction force to balance the gravity effect on each phalanx during finger motion, this design effectively combines both consistency and adaptability. As a result, the prosthetic finger can maintain consistent motion unaffected by any spatial posture during reaching, execute adaptive motion during grasping, and automatically switch between them, resulting in human-like reach-and-grasp movements. Additionally, the proposed finger achieves a highly anthropomorphic design, weighing only 18.9 g and possessing the same size as an adult's middle finger. Finally, a series of experiments validate the theoretical effectiveness and motion performance of the proposed design. Remarkably, the mechanical principle of the proposed friction clutch is beneficial to achieve highly anthropomorphic design, providing not only a new strategy to prosthetic hand design but also great potential in hand rehabilitation.

Human-Social Robot Interaction, Anthropomorphism And Ontological Boundary Problem In Education

Artificial intelligence and robotics technologies do not manufacture robots only for industrial use, but also for healthcare, marketing, tourism and accommodation industries where social interaction is prevalent. Service robots are social robots that interact directly with individuals and to fulfill the physical, cognitive, emotional and social needs of individuals. Recently, it was observed that the number of studies on the employment of social robots in education has increased. These studies reported positive findings on the employment of social robots in educational settings; however, they also indicated certain problems. One of these problems was the ontological boundary problem due to the anthropomorphic design of these robots. Certain studies on human-social robot interaction demonstrated that the human-machine distinction has blurred, humans started to attribute anthropogenic traits to these robots such as intention, emotion and purpose, while these studies categorized these robots as live or hybrid. Anthropomorphizing the robots and the ambiguity of their ontological category could lead to problems such as excessive attachment, social isolation, and violation of privacy, and perceptions of the individuals about their existence could be altered. The present article aimed to provide information about the studies conducted on the employment of social robots in education, analyze the advantages and disadvantages of human-social robot interaction based on anthropomorphism and ontological boundary problem. Finally, certain recommendations are presented about the employment of social robots in education.

Application of chat bots for personalized financial advice

Chat bots are web-based systems that have recently received a lot of attention due to their ability to provide professional financial advice at a lower cost than a human advisor. We considered anthropomorphic design of chat bot as a positive impact on human perception, which is an important factor in human-computer interaction, because increasing the level of anthropomorphism of the system can potentially compensate for the lack of contact with a person. The influenceof the anthropomorphism effect and anthropomorphic design of the bot on the feeling of social presence, trust, and the desire to follow recommendations are investigated.High cost of financial advice, the volatility of markets and problems with finding professional financial advisors have created favourable conditions for the use of robo-advisors. Due to the growing popularity ofrobo-advisors andchat bots, new opportunities appeared for banks for attracting new customers. There are a large number of chat bots that can provide financial advice, butusually, these are complex solutions and they require quite a lot of time to work with them, so if the user's goal is to get a quick and specific answer, such solutions are not the best option.The goal of our research is to develop a Telegram chat bot for personalized financial advice. To meet this goal we need consider examples of chat bots advisors for potential investorsto analyse available software solutions for financial advisors and create our own software product for personalized financial advice.Research methods includeanalytical mathematical methods and technologies, such as Python, Telegram Bot API, Aiogram, Docker, Amazon Web Services, EC2, and UbuntuServer. We created our own software product, a telegram bot for automated financial consultations to achieve the goals of private investors by calculating constant level of consumption during determined periodunder expected inflation rate to decide whether invest or not. Our telegram bot provides option for receiving financial advice and helping potential investors with capital distribution.

3D Extrusion Printing of Biphasic Anthropomorphic Brain Phantoms Mimicking MR Relaxation Times Based on Alginate-Agarose-Carrageenan Blends.

The availability of adapted phantoms mimicking different body parts is fundamental to establishing the stability and reliability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods. The primary purpose of such phantoms is the mimicking of physiologically relevant, contrast-creating relaxation times T1 and T2. For the head, frequently examined by MRI, an anthropomorphic design of brain phantoms would imply the discrimination of gray matter and white matter (WM) within defined, spatially distributed compartments. Multichannel extrusion printing allows the layer-by-layer fabrication of multiple pastelike materials in a spatially defined manner with a predefined shape. In this study, the advantages of this method are used to fabricate biphasic brain phantoms mimicking MR relaxation times and anthropomorphic geometry. The printable ink was based on purely naturally derived polymers: alginate as a calcium-cross-linkable gelling agent, agarose, ι-carrageenan, and GdCl3 in different concentrations (0-280 μmol kg-1) as the paramagnetic component. The suggested inks (e.g., 3Alg-1Agar-6Car) fulfilled the requirements of viscoelastic behavior and printability of large constructs (>150 mL). The microstructure and distribution of GdCl3 were assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). In closely monitored steps of technological development and characterization, from monophasic and biphasic samples as printable inks and cross-linked gels, we describe the construction of large-scale phantom models whose relaxation times were characterized and checked for stability over time.

Tools or peers? Impacts of anthropomorphism level and social role on emotional attachment and disclosure tendency towards intelligent agents

Owing to the development of anthropomorphic intelligent agent (IA) designs, users consider IAs as more than just inanimate tools. Previous studies have reported that anthropomorphic features can promote users' social feedback and aid in establishing intimate human–agent relationships. The present study examined the main and interaction effects of anthropomorphism level (a human-like IA vs. robot-like IA) and social role (servant vs. mentor) on emotional attachment, information disclosure tendency, and satisfaction in a smart home. The study participants were randomly assigned into four groups with balanced gender. The results indicate that high anthropomorphism and mentor role can positively predict users' emotional attachment. Additionally, users tend to disclose more personal information to the human-servant and robot-mentor IAs than the human-mentor and robot-servant IAs. Interestingly, social presence was determined to be a positive and significant mediator between anthropomorphic design and emotional attachment. The study findings highlight the importance of social role in anthropomorphic IA design and explain the mechanism of establishing effective human–agent relationships. Moreover, both theoretical and practical implications of these findings are analyzed.

The nonlinear effect of service robot anthropomorphism on customers’ usage intention: A privacy calculus perspective

Although service robots with anthropomorphic designs are widely used in the tourism and hospitality industry, there are mixed research findings about the effect of service robot anthropomorphism (SRA) on customers’ responses. At the same time, when using AI and robotics, companies often need to overcome customers’ privacy concerns. Based on privacy calculus theory, this study investigated the nonlinear relationship between SRA and customer privacy concerns. Three empirical studies showed that SRA has a nonlinear effect on customers’ privacy concerns, which in turn negatively affects subsequent usage intention. The study also identified the boundary conditions of the nonlinear effects, finding that the negative impacts of SRA are attenuated when (1) information sensitivity is low and (2) service personalization is high. This study is one of the first empirical studies to investigate the nonlinear effect of SRA from the privacy calculus perspective. The practical implications for the tourism and hospitality industry are discussed.

Do people intend to use AI Voice Assistants? An empirical study in Vietnam

ABSTRACT Today, the gradual popularization of artificial intelligence (AI) application technology such as Voice Assistants is making our daily life more convenient and time-saving. However, why do people choose to use Voice assistants to help them with daily tasks? Not many studies have focused on such an exciting issue. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the factors influencing users’ intentions to use Voice Assistant. Specifically, this study explored the impact of smartphone voice assistants with anthropomorphic design on the use intention among users. This study collected a sample of 645 smartphone users and attempted to examine the relationships among the constructs. We used path analysis to test all the hypotheses. Besides, an independent sample t-test was used to determine whether or not there were significant differences among the groups (types of Voice Assistants, Frequent and infrequent use, and gender) of the users. The results showed that both voice cues and message interactivity positively influence the social presence and perceived expertise, which affect the use intention of voice assistants. This study confirmed that highly anthropomorphic voice assistants increase voice assistant use intention among users.

The Effects of Anthropomorphism, Message Framing, and Voice Type on Unhealthy Sleep Behavior in Young Users: The Mediating Role of Risk Perception.

Insufficient sleep is a severe social public health problem that can adversely affect the physical and mental health of young people. This study examined risk perceptions for unhealthy sleep behaviors and intentions for healthy sleep behaviors under different combinations of anthropomorphism, message framing, and voice type in cartoons. We used a three-factor between-subject experiment of two (anthropomorphism: anthropomorphic vs. non-anthropomorphic) × two (message framing: positive frame vs. negative frame) × two (voice type: cartoon child voice vs. adult female voice) design. We examined the effects of different audiovisual combinations of cartoon attitude, risk perception, and behavioral intention and the mediating role of risk perception. The research results show that (1) the integration of anthropomorphic design elements can positively impact users’ attitudes toward cartoons; (2) when the interface information is presented in a negative frame, anthropomorphism can more positively influence users’ attitudes toward cartoons than non-anthropomorphism; and (3) anthropomorphism, message framing, and voice type in cartoons significantly interact with risk perception. In addition, risk perception mediates the influence of anthropomorphism, message framing, and voice type on behavioral intention.

A Multi-Material, Anthropomorphic Metacarpophalangeal Joint With Abduction and Adduction Actuated by Soft Artificial Muscles

In recent years, the field of hand prosthetic research has seen anthropomorphic designs that make use of hybrid soft-rigid materials, combining the load-bearing capability of rigid skeletons with the robustness and mobility of soft materials. This approach generates potential for more advanced prosthetics, yet there are unexplored opportunities for leveraging soft actuation and joint interfaces towards creating more versatile joints. In this work, we present a multi-material metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint that uses a rigid skeleton and soft ligaments, with the addition of novel soft actuators for active ab/adduction and soft cartilage-lubricant for smoother motion. To support the joint’s potential applications in more dexterous prosthetics, we perform experiments to demonstrate its (1) near linearity in positional control (2) positional repeatability (3) and force output repeatability. We also find that the addition of the novel cartilage-lubricant combination improves the joint’s dynamic response.

The impact of anthropomorphism on customer satisfaction in chatbot commerce: an experimental study in the food sector

Food retailers are lagging behind other industries in implementing innovative mobile solutions offering their services and purchasing processes on their online platforms. Chatbots can be leveraged as an application to provide customer-centric services while retailers benefit from collecting consumer data. Previous literature on chatbot technology provides evidence that human characteristics enhance the customer experience. This is the first experimental study to investigate consumer attitudes and satisfaction with anthropomorphic chatbots in food e-commerce. A sample of 401 participants was tested to verify the proposed hypotheses. The test group interacted with a standard chatbot without human-like characteristics, while the control group communicated with the anthropomorphically designed agent. The results confirm the vast potential of anthropomorphic cues in chatbot applications and show that they are positively associated with customer satisfaction and mediated by the variables enjoyment, attitude, and trust. The findings suggest that to remain competitive, food retailers should immediately adopt innovative technologies for their omnichannel strategy and incorporate anthropomorphic design cues.

Robot Voices in Daily Life: Vocal Human-Likeness and Application Context as Determinants of User Acceptance.

The growing popularity of speech interfaces goes hand in hand with the creation of synthetic voices that sound ever more human. Previous research has been inconclusive about whether anthropomorphic design features of machines are more likely to be associated with positive user responses or, conversely, with uncanny experiences. To avoid detrimental effects of synthetic voice design, it is therefore crucial to explore what level of human realism human interactors prefer and whether their evaluations may vary across different domains of application. In a randomized laboratory experiment, 165 participants listened to one of five female-sounding robot voices, each with a different degree of human realism. We assessed how much participants anthropomorphized the voice (by subjective human-likeness ratings, a name-giving task and an imagination task), how pleasant and how eerie they found it, and to what extent they would accept its use in various domains. Additionally, participants completed Big Five personality measures and a tolerance of ambiguity scale. Our results indicate a positive relationship between human-likeness and user acceptance, with the most realistic sounding voice scoring highest in pleasantness and lowest in eeriness. Participants were also more likely to assign real human names to the voice (e.g., “Julia” instead of “T380”) if it sounded more realistic. In terms of application context, participants overall indicated lower acceptance of the use of speech interfaces in social domains (care, companionship) than in others (e.g., information & navigation), though the most human-like voice was rated significantly more acceptable in social applications than the remaining four. While most personality factors did not prove influential, openness to experience was found to moderate the relationship between voice type and user acceptance such that individuals with higher openness scores rated the most human-like voice even more positively. Study results are discussed in the light of the presented theory and in relation to open research questions in the field of synthetic voice design.

Electrically Driven Lower Limb Exoskeleton Rehabilitation Robot Based on Anthropomorphic Design

To help people with impairment of lower extremity movement regain the ability to stand and walk, and to enhance limb function, this study proposes an anthropomorphic design of an electrically driven, lower-limb exoskeleton rehabilitation robot. The angular range of the robot’s motion was determined according to the characteristics of the targeted lower-limb joints; the robot was given an active–passive anthropomorphic design with 12 degrees of freedom. The multi-degree-of-freedom hip exoskeleton, bionic artificial knee exoskeleton and passive rigid-flexible coupling ankle exoskeleton can assist patients in rehabilitation exercises with better wear comfort and exercise flexibility. A kinetic model of the seven-rod lower-limb exoskeleton rehabilitation robot was built, and data analysis of the dynamically captured motion trajectory was conducted. These provided a theoretical basis for gait planning and the control system of the lower-limb exoskeleton rehabilitation robot. The results show that the lower-limb exoskeleton rehabilitation robot system possesses sound wearing comfort and movement flexibility, and the degree of freedom of movement of the exoskeleton robot matches well with that of human movement. The robot can thus provide effective assistance to patients’ standing and walking rehabilitation training.