Is this robot like me? Links between human and robot personality traits

Abstract

A relatively unexplored question for human-robot social interaction is whether a robot's personality should match that of the human user, or be different in the sense that humans do not want the robot to be like them. In this study, 28 adults interacted individually with a non-humanoid robot that demonstrated two robot behaviour styles (socially interactive, socially ignorant) in a simulated living room situation. Questionnaires assessed the extent to which adult ratings of their own personality traits were similar or different to the two robot behaviours. Results revealed that overall subjects did not view their own personality as similar to either of the two robot behaviour styles. Subjects viewed themselves as having stronger personality characteristics compared to the two robot behaviour styles. Important group differences were found, factors such as subject gender, age and technological experience were important in how subjects viewed their personality as being similar to the robot personality. Design implications for future studies are discussed.