20,462 research outputs found
Challenging the Computational Metaphor: Implications for How We Think
This paper explores the role of the traditional computational metaphor in our thinking as computer scientists, its influence on epistemological styles, and its implications for our understanding of cognition. It proposes to replace the conventional metaphor--a sequence of steps--with the notion of a community of interacting entities, and examines the ramifications of such a shift on these various ways in which we think
Some Agents are more Similar than Others:Customer Orientation of Frontline Robots and Employees
Purpose: The impact of frontline robots (FLRs) on customer orientation perceptions remains unclear. This is remarkable because customers may associate FLRs with standardization and cost-cutting, such that they may not fit firms that aim to be customer oriented. Design/methodology/approach: In four experiments, data are collected from customers interacting with frontline employees (FLEs) and FLRs in different settings. Findings: FLEs are perceived as more customer-oriented than FLRs due to higher competence and warmth evaluations. A relational interaction style attenuates the difference in perceived competence between FLRs and FLEs. These agents are also perceived as more similar in competence and warmth when FLRs participate in the customer journey's information and negotiation stages. Switching from FLE to FLR in the journey harms FLR evaluations. Practical implications: The authors recommend firms to place FLRs only in the negotiation stage or in both the information and negotiation stages of the customer journey. Still then customers should not transition from employees to robots (vice versa does no harm). Firms should ensure that FLRs utilize a relational style when interacting with customers for optimal effects. Originality/value: The authors bridge the FLR and sales/marketing literature by drawing on social cognition theory. The authors also identify the product categories for which customers are willing to negotiate with an FLR. Broadly speaking, this study’s findings underline that customers perceive robots as having agency (i.e. the mental capacity for acting with intentionality) and, just as humans, can be customer-oriented.</p
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
Mirroring to Build Trust in Digital Assistants
We describe experiments towards building a conversational digital assistant
that considers the preferred conversational style of the user. In particular,
these experiments are designed to measure whether users prefer and trust an
assistant whose conversational style matches their own. To this end we
conducted a user study where subjects interacted with a digital assistant that
responded in a way that either matched their conversational style, or did not.
Using self-reported personality attributes and subjects' feedback on the
interactions, we built models that can reliably predict a user's preferred
conversational style.Comment: Preprin
Playing Pairs with Pepper
As robots become increasingly prevalent in almost all areas of society, the
factors affecting humans trust in those robots becomes increasingly important.
This paper is intended to investigate the factor of robot attributes, looking
specifically at the relationship between anthropomorphism and human development
of trust. To achieve this, an interaction game, Matching the Pairs, was
designed and implemented on two robots of varying levels of anthropomorphism,
Pepper and Husky. Participants completed both pre- and post-test questionnaires
that were compared and analyzed predominantly with the use of quantitative
methods, such as paired sample t-tests. Post-test analyses suggested a positive
relationship between trust and anthropomorphism with of participants
confirming that the robots' adoption of facial features assisted in
establishing trust. The results also indicated a positive relationship between
interaction and trust with of participants confirming this for both
robots post-testComment: Presented at AI-HRI AAAI-FSS, 2018 (arXiv:1809.06606
Comics, robots, fashion and programming: outlining the concept of actDresses
This paper concerns the design of physical languages for controlling and programming robotic consumer products. For this purpose we explore basic theories of semiotics represented in the two separate fields of comics and
fashion, and how these could be used as resources in the development of new physical languages. Based on these theories, the design concept of actDresses is defined, and supplemented by three example scenarios of how the concept can be used for controlling, programming, and
predicting the behaviour of robotic systems
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