Uncanny, sexy, and threatening robots: The online community's attitude to and perceptions of robots varying in humanlikeness and gender

Quirien R.M. Hover, Ella Velner, Thomas Beelen, Mieke Boon, Khiet P. Truong

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionAcademicpeer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)
282 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

To get a better understanding of people's natural responses to humanlike robots outside the lab, we analyzed commentary on online videos depicting robots of different humanlikeness and gender. We built on previous work, which compared online video commentary of moderately and highly humanlike robots with respect to valence, uncanny valley, threats, and objectification. Additionally, we took into account the robot's gender, its appearance, its societal impact, the attribution of mental states, and how people attribute human stereotypes to robots. The results are mostly in line with previous work. Overall, the findings indicate that moderately humanlike robot design may be preferable over highly humanlike robot design because it is less associated with negative attitudes and perceptions. Robot designers should therefore be cautious when designing highly humanlike and gendered robots.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHRI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
PublisherIEEE
Pages119-128
Number of pages10
ISBN (Electronic)9781450382892
ISBN (Print)9781450382892
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Mar 2021
Event16th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 8 Mar 202111 Mar 2021
Conference number: 16

Publication series

NameACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
ISSN (Electronic)2167-2148

Conference

Conference16th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2021
Abbreviated titleHRI 2021
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period8/03/2111/03/21

Keywords

  • Attitude
  • Human-robot interaction
  • Humanlikeness
  • Online commentary
  • Perception
  • Robot gender
  • Sexualization
  • Threat
  • Uncanny valley

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