Stage of subconscious interaction in embodied interaction

Abstract

Humans can interact with strangers because they can communicate with each other. On the other hand, developing a relationship with an unknown artifact is difficult. In order to address this problem, existing studies have explored various approaches to the artifact's behavioral design. However, little research has been done on interaction where there is no information about the interaction partner and where there has been no experimental task. Clarification of how people regard unknown objects as interaction partners is required. We believe that a stage of subconscious interaction plays a role in this process. We created an experimental environment to observe the interaction between a human and a robot whose behavior was actually mapped by another human. We observed this interaction under two different conditions; where the participants knew and where the participants did not know that the robot could interact. Both sets of participants approached or avoided the robot, but differences in the interaction property for each condition was confirmed. The results of our experiment suggest that a stage of subconscious interaction does exist for recognition of artifacts as interaction partners.