Publication Details

Joshua Wainer, David Feil-Seifer, Dylan A. Shell, and Maja Matarić. "The role of physical embodiment in human-robot interaction." In IEEE Proceedings of the International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), page 117-122, Hatfield, United Kingdom, Sep 2006. doi: 10.1109/ROMAN.2006.314404 ( pdf )


  • Keywords:
  • HRI
  • socially assistive robotics
  • performance metrics
  • embodiment

Abstract

Autonomous robots are agents with physical bodies that share our environment. We test the hypothesis that physical embodiment has a measurable effect on performance and perception of social interactions. Acceptance of this hypothesis would suggest fundamental differences between virtual agents and robots from a social standpoint and have significant implications for human-robot interaction. We measure task performance and perception of a robot's social abilities in a structured, but open-ended task based on the towers of Hanoi puzzle. Our experiment compares aspects of embodiment by evaluating: (1) the difference between a physical robot and simulated one; (2) the effect of physical presence through a co-located robot versus a remote tele-present robot. We present initial data from a pilot study with 13 participants showing surprising differences in perception of remote physical robot and simulated agents attention to task, and task enjoyment. We posit future directions for evaluating the impact on task performance.

Author Details

Name: Joshua Wainer
Status: Inactive

Name: David Feil-Seifer
email: dave@cse.unr.edu
Website: http://cse.unr.edu/~dave
Phone: (775) 784-6469
Status: Active

Name: Dylan Shell
Status: Inactive

Name: Maja Matarić
email: maja@cs.usc.edu
Website: http://robotics.usc.edu/~maja
Status: Inactive

BibTex Reference

@inproceedings{wainer2006the,
  title={The role of physical embodiment in human-robot interaction},
  author={Joshua Wainer and David Feil-Seifer and Dylan A. Shell and Maja Matarić},
  year={2006},
  month={September},
  pages={117-122},
  address={Hatfield, United Kingdom},
  doi={10.1109/ROMAN.2006.314404},
  booktitle={IEEE Proceedings of the International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)},
}

HTML Reference

<span class="authors">Joshua Wainer, David Feil-Seifer, Dylan A. Shell, and Maja Matarić</span>. <span class="title">"The role of physical embodiment in human-robot interaction." </span> In <span class="booktitle">IEEE Proceedings of the International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)</span>, <span class="page">page 117-122</span>, <span class="address">Hatfield, United Kingdom</span>, <span class="month">Sep</span> <span class="year">2006</span>. <span class="ending"></span> <span class="doi">doi: 10.1109/ROMAN.2006.314404</span>