Psychological assessment of humanoid robot appearance and performance using virtual reality

Abstract

Psychological acceptance among users must be considered when service robots intended to work in a human population. We assessed such psychological effects using virtual reality instead of actual robots. Subjects filled out questionnaires after viewing computer graphics (CG) images of robots. Based on questionnaires, we identified potential psychological effects. In earlier work, we defined impressions made by robots on viewers using an abstract robot model. Here we define effects that robot appearance and performance have on users, varying parameters. We also define changes in impression due to colors thought to significant affect human psychology in the same way as robot appearance and performance.