Designing Dynamic Robot Characters to Improve Robot-Human Communications

TL;DR

This paper emphasizes the importance of designing dynamic robot personalities in Socially Assistive Robots to enhance transparency, trust, and communication effectiveness over time in sensitive environments.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of dynamic robot personalities and highlights the need for long-term studies on evolving user communication needs.

Findings

Identifies the gap in long-term communication studies.

Proposes the design of adaptable robot personalities.

Suggests that dynamic personalities can improve user trust.

Abstract

Socially Assistive Robots navigate highly sensible environments, which place high demands on safety and communication with users. The reasoning behind an SAR's actions must be transparent at any time to earn users' trust and acceptance. Although different communication modalities have been extensively studied, there is a lack of long-term studies investigating changes in users' communication needs over time. Considering two decades of research in Human-Robot Communication, we formulate the need to design dynamic robot personalities to unveil the full potential of SARs.