How to Make Robots' Optimal Anthropomorphism Level: Manipulating Social Cues and Spatial Context for an Improved User Experience

With the growing interest in robot related research and industry, there is a demand to shape user experience more sophisticatedly in human-robot interaction. The purpose of this study is to define the elements for manipulating robot's verbal anthropomorphism and investigate the influence on user experience associated with spatial context. Based on the identified elements, we divided the robot's anthropomorphism into three levels (high, medium, low) and associated them with two spatial contexts (open, closed). The results revealed that a higher level of verbal anthropomorphism mostly induced positive user experiences; however, people sometimes tended to prefer a medium level, especially in terms of usefulness. Further, privacy concerns were significantly higher in open space. Consequently, we propose that designers and researchers deviate from the two levels of anthropomorphism (e.g., high or low, existing or not) generally used in prior studies to a new perspective that also considers the spatial context.