Robotic Gestures, Human Moods: Investigating Affective Responses in Public Interaction

Abstract

In the evolving landscape of human-robot interaction, this study delves into the nuanced dynamics of humans react when encountering a robot designed to bid for an individual's attention, offer a reward, and prompt contemplation of the perennial "trick or treat?" question. Positioned in a busy public setting, Pepper engaged passersbyers, exploring diverse gestural bids to attract interaction, ranging from animated to meek with varied speech to simulate dynamic personalities. In the second phase, the robot comments on those that take candy. Analyzing responses to Halloween candy distribution, the results show the very significant influence of non-verbal cues on participant's taking candy, and of post-candy-taking comments on participant emotive response, shedding light on the complex interplay between programmed actions and human affective experience. Future work might replicate such studies across varied cultural backdrops exploring how timing, gesture, and speech norms might benefit from local calibration.