The Influence of Human-like Appearance on Expected Robot Explanations

TL;DR

This study explores how a robot's human-like appearance influences users' expectations of robot explanations, revealing that more human-like robots elicit more anthropomorphic explanations, with nuanced trends observed in non-anthropomorphic descriptions.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on the relationship between robot appearance and expected explanations, highlighting the role of anthropomorphism in human-robot interaction.

Findings

Most explanations were anthropomorphic across all conditions.

Positive correlation between human-like appearance and anthropomorphic explanations.

Nuanced trends observed in non-anthropomorphic explanations.

Abstract

A robot's appearance is a known factor influencing user's mental model and human-robot interaction, that has not been studied in the context of its influence in expected robot explanations. In this study, we investigate whether and to what extent the human-like appearance of robots elicits anthropomorphism, which is conceptualised as an attribution of mental capacities, and how the level of anthropomorphism is revealed in explanations that people expect to receive. We designed a between-subject study comprising conditions with visual stimuli of three domestic service robots with varying human-like appearance, and we prompted respondents to provide explanations they would expect to receive from the robot for the same robot actions. We found that most explanations were anthropomorphic across all conditions. However, there is a positive correlation between the anthropomorphic explanations and human-like appearance. We also report on more nuanced trends observed in non-anthropomorphic explanations and trends in robot descriptions.