Work

The influence of robot anthropomorphism on the feelings of embarrassment when interacting with robots

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Medical robots are expected to help with providing care in an aging society. The degree to which patients experience embarrassment in a medical examination might be influenced by the robots’ level of anthropomorphism. The results of our preliminary study show that young, healthy, Dutch university students were less embarrassed when interacting with a technical box than with a robot. Highly human-like robots might therefore not be the best choice for a medical robot. This result also shows that the robot was perceived as a person more so than the technical box. The next step is to compare the robot to a real nurse or doctor. If patients are less embarrassed when interacting with a robot, then, potentially, patients will be less likely to defer important medical examinations when carried out by medical robots.

Source: Paladyn Journal of Behavioral Robotics

DOI: 10.2478/s13230-010-0011-3

Authors: Christoph Bartneck, Timo Bleeker, Jeroen Bun, Pepijn Fens, Lynyrd Riet

Institution: Eindhoven University of Technology

Language: English

Topic: Social Robot Interaction and HRI

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,187