Safe Spot: Exploring perceived safety of dominant vs submissive quadruped robots

Nanami Hashimoto*, Emma Hagens, Arkady Zgonnikov, Maria Luce Lupetti

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

Abstract

Unprecedented possibilities of quadruped robots have driven much research on the technical aspects of these robots. However, the social perception and acceptability of quadruped robots so far remain poorly understood. This work investigates whether the way we design quadruped robots' behaviours can affect people's perception of safety in interactions with these robots. We designed and tested a dominant and submissive personality for the quadruped robot (Boston Dynamics Spot). These were tested in two different walking scenarios (head-on and crossing interactions) in a 2x2 within-subjects study. We collected both behavioural data and subjective reports on participants' perception of the interaction. The results highlight that participants perceived the submissive robot as safer compared to the dominant one. The behavioural dynamics of interactions did not change depending on the robot's appearance. Participants' previous in-person experience with the robot was associated with lower subjective safety ratings but did not correlate with the interaction dynamics. Our findings have implications for the design of quadruped robots and contribute to the body of knowledge on the social perception of non-humanoid robots. We call for a stronger standing of felt experiences in human-robot interaction research.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, ROMAN 2024
PublisherIEEE
Pages717-724
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)979-8-3503-7502-2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Event33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, ROMAN 2024 - Pasadena, United States
Duration: 26 Aug 202430 Aug 2024

Publication series

NameIEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication, RO-MAN
ISSN (Print)1944-9445
ISSN (Electronic)1944-9437

Conference

Conference33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication, ROMAN 2024
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPasadena
Period26/08/2430/08/24

Bibliographical note

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care
Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

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