"You Are Doing so Great!" - The Effect of a Robot's Interaction Style on Self-Efficacy in HRI

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different interaction styles on self-efficacy in human-robot interaction (HRI), people’s perception of the robot, and task engagement. We conducted a user study in which a social robot assists people verbally while building a house of cards. Data from our experimental study revealed that people engaged longer in the task while interacting with a robot that provides person related feedback than with a robot that gives no person or task related feedback. Moreover, people interacting with a robot with a person-oriented interaction style reported a higher self-efficacy in HRI, perceived higher agreeableness of the robot and found the interaction less frustrating, as compared to a robot with a task-oriented interaction style. This suggests that a robot’s interaction style can be considered as a key factor for increasing people’s perceived self-efficacy in HRI, which is essential for establishing trust and enabling Human-robot collaboration.

Publication
2019 28th IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)