The use of UTAUT and Post Acceptance models to investigate the attitude towards a telepresence robot in an educational setting

(1) Background: In the last decade, various investigations into the field of robotics have created several opportunities for further innovation to be possible in student education. However, despite scientific evidence, there is still strong scepticism surrounding the use of robots in some social fields, such as personal care and education; (2) Methods: In this research, we present a new tool named: HANCON model that was developed merging and extending the constructs of two solid and proven models: the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model to examine the factors that may influence the decision to use a telepresence robot as an instrument in educational practice, and the Post Acceptance Model to evaluate acceptability after the actual use of a telepresence robot. The new tool is implemented and used to study the acceptance of a Double telepresence robot by 112 pre-service teachers in an educational setting; (3) Results: The analysis of the experimental results predicts and demonstrate a positive attitude towards the use of telepresence robot in a school setting and confirm the applicability of the model in an educational context; (4) Conclusions: The constructs of the HANCON model could predict and explain the acceptance of social telepresence robots in social contexts

Differences on social acceptance of humanoid robots between Japan and the UK

Held at AISB'15 ConventionTo validate a questionnaire for measuring people's acceptance of humanoid robots in cross-cultural research (the Frankenstein Syndrome Questionnaire: FSQ), an online survey was conducted in both the UK and Japan including items on perceptions of the relation to the family and commitment to religions, and negative attitudes toward robots (the NARS). The results suggested that 1) the correlations between the FSQ subscale scores and NARS were sufficient, 2) the UK people felt more negative toward humanoid robots than did the Japanese people, 3) young UK people had more expectation for humanoid robots, 4) relationships between social acceptance of humanoid robots and negative attitudes toward robots in general were different between the nations and generations, and 5) there were no correlations between the FSQ subscale scores, and perception of the relation to the family and commitment to religions.Final Accepted Versio

What is a robot companion - friend, assistant or butler?

The study presented in this paper explored people's perceptions and attitudes towards the idea of a future robot companion for the home. A human-centred approach was adopted using questionnaires and human-robot interaction trials to derive data from 28 adults. Results indicated that a large proportion of participants were in favour of a robot companion and saw the potential role as being an assistant, machine or servant. Few wanted a robot companion to be a friend. Household tasks were preferred to child/animal care tasks. Humanlike communication was desirable for a robot companion, whereas humanlike behaviour and appearance were less essential. Results are discussed in relation to future research directions for the development of robot companions

The perception of emotion in artificial agents

Given recent technological developments in robotics, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, it is perhaps unsurprising that the arrival of emotionally expressive and reactive artificial agents is imminent. However, if such agents are to become integrated into our social milieu, it is imperative to establish an understanding of whether and how humans perceive emotion in artificial agents. In this review, we incorporate recent findings from social robotics, virtual reality, psychology, and neuroscience to examine how people recognize and respond to emotions displayed by artificial agents. First, we review how people perceive emotions expressed by an artificial agent, such as facial and bodily expressions and vocal tone. Second, we evaluate the similarities and differences in the consequences of perceived emotions in artificial compared to human agents. Besides accurately recognizing the emotional state of an artificial agent, it is critical to understand how humans respond to those emotions. Does interacting with an angry robot induce the same responses in people as interacting with an angry person? Similarly, does watching a robot rejoice when it wins a game elicit similar feelings of elation in the human observer? Here we provide an overview of the current state of emotion expression and perception in social robotics, as well as a clear articulation of the challenges and guiding principles to be addressed as we move ever closer to truly emotional artificial agents

Social robots for older users: a possibility to support assessment and social interventions

In the last decades, various researches in the field of robotics have created numerous opportunities for innovative support of the older population. The goal of this work was to review and highlight how social robots can help the daily life of older people, and be useful also as assessment tools. We will underline the aspects of usability and acceptability of robotic supports in the psychosocial work with older persons. The actual usability of the system influences the perception of the ease of use only when the user has no or low experience, while expert users’ perception is related to their attitude towards the robot. This finding should be more deeply analysed because it may have a strong influence on the design of future interfaces for elderly-robot interaction. Robots can play an important role to tackle the societal challenge of the growing older population. The authors report some recent studies with older users, where it was demonstrated that the acceptability of robotics during daily life activities, and also in cognitive evaluation, could be supported by social robot

Overcoming barriers and increasing independence: service robots for elderly and disabled people

This paper discusses the potential for service robots to overcome barriers and increase independence of elderly and disabled people. It includes a brief overview of the existing uses of service robots by disabled and elderly people and advances in technology which will make new uses possible and provides suggestions for some of these new applications. The paper also considers the design and other conditions to be met for user acceptance. It also discusses the complementarity of assistive service robots and personal assistance and considers the types of applications and users for which service robots are and are not suitable

An empirical framework for human-robot proxemics

The work described in this paper was conducted within the EU Integrated Projects COGNIRON ("The Cognitive Robot Companion") and LIREC (LIving with Robots and intEractive Companions) and was funded by the European Commission under contract numbers FP6- 002020 and FP7-215554.An empirical framework for Human-Robot (HR) proxemics is proposed which shows how the measurement and control of interpersonal distances between a human and a robot can be potentially used by the robot to interpret, predict and manipulate proxemic behaviour for Human-Robot Interactions (HRIs). The proxemic framework provides for incorporation of inter-factor effects, and can be extended to incorporate new factors, updated values and results. The framework is critically discussed and future work proposed

Human-robot interaction: How do personality traits affect attitudes towards robot?

The robot technology seems to be an important part of daily life and has shown great progress in recent years. Robots are used in a lot of parts of life. Thus, we need to think and know how robots will affect human life and how human will react to robots. This study focused on human’s attitude toward robots. The first purpose of this study is to determine participants’ attitude towards robots and second is to investigate how personality traits predict their attitudes towards robots. Participants consisted of 219 (142 female and 77 male) university students. Of the participants were university students and their age was between 18-26 years old (mean age=20.54, SD=1.22). Negative Attitude towards Robot Scale and Quick Big Five Personality Test were used to collect data. Results indicated that gender, extraversion and openness to experience are important factors for participants’ attitude towards robots. Considering speed technological development we need more researches to evaluate correctly human-robot interactions. ÖzetRobot teknolojisi günlük yaşamın önemli bir parçası olarak görünmektedir ve son yıllarda büyük ilerleme göstermiştir. Robotlar yaşamın pek çok alanında kullanılmaktadır. Bundan dolayı robotların insan yaşamına nasıl etkide bulunduğunu ve insanların robotlara karşı nasıl teki verdiğini düşünmeye ve bilmeye ihtiyacımız vardır. Bu çalışma insanların robotlara karşı tutumları üzerine odaklanmıştır. Bu çalışmanın ilk amacı katılımcıların robotlara karşı tutumlarını belirlemek ve ikinci amacı da katılımcıların kişilik özelliklerinin robotlara karşı tutumlarını nasıl yordadığını incelemektir. Veriler 219 (142 kadın ve 77 erkek) üniversite öğrencisi katılımcıdan toplanmıştır. Katılımcıların yaş aralığı 18-26’dır (ort. yaş=20.54, SS=1.22). Robota karşı Olumsuz Tutum Ölçeği ve Hızlı Büyük Beşli Kişilik Testi kullanılmıştır. Sonuçlar katılımcıların robotlara karşı tutumunda cinsiyetin, dışadönüklüğün ve deneyimlere açıklığın önemli faktörler olduğunu göstermiştir. Hızlı teknolojik gelişmeler göz önünde bulundurulduğunda insan-robot etkileşimini doğru bir şekilde değerlendirmek için daha fazla araştırmaya ihtiyacımız vardır