The integration of the physical capabilities of an industrial collaborative
robot with a social virtual character may represent a viable solution to
enhance the workers' perception of the system as an embodied social entity and
increase social engagement and well-being at the workplace. An online study was
setup using prerecorded video interactions in order to pilot potential
advantages of different embodied configurations of the cobot-avatar system in
terms of perceptions of Social Presence, cobot-avatar Unity and Social Role of
the system, and explore the relation of these. In particular, two different
configurations were explored and compared: the virtual character was displayed
either on a tablet strapped onto the base of the cobot or on a large TV screen
positioned at the back of the workcell. The results imply that participants
showed no clear preference based on the constructs, and both configurations
fulfill these basic criteria. In terms of the relations between the constructs,
there were strong correlations between perception of Social Presence, Unity and
Social Role (Collegiality). This gives a valuable insight into the role of
these constructs in the perception of cobots as embodied social entities, and
towards building cobots that support well-being at the workplace
