Feeling green: Empathy affects perceptions of usefulness and intention to use a robotic recycling bin

摘要

This paper investigates whether empathy towards an interactive trash bin, particularly empathy induced by the bin's anthropomorphic appearance and behavior, affects people's evaluations of the artifact and their intention to use it to recycle. We performed an online survey in which 344 participants viewed a video showing a person interacting with a recycling bin in one of three conditions: non-interactive/control, non-anthropomorphic interactive, and anthropomorphic interactive. We measured people's perceptions of the bin's anthropomorphism and animacy, their empathy and anxiety towards and enjoyment of the bin, their perceptions of its sociability and usefulness, and finally their intentions to use the bin. The results suggest that the level of anthropomorphism attributed to the artifact by participants positively affected their empathy towards the recycling bin, which in turn directly influenced their intentions to use the bin.