Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese
As witnessed in several behavioural studies, a complex relationship exists between people’s cultural background and their general acceptance towards robots. However, very few studies have investigated whether a robot’s original language and gesture based on certain culture have an impact on the peop...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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De Gruyter
2013-12-01
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| Series: | Paladyn |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/pjbr-2013-0006 |
| _version_ | 1797428596119175168 |
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| author | Trovato Gabriele Zecca Massimiliano Sessa Salvatore Jamone Lorenzo Ham Jaap Hashimoto Kenji Takanishi Atsuo |
| author_facet | Trovato Gabriele Zecca Massimiliano Sessa Salvatore Jamone Lorenzo Ham Jaap Hashimoto Kenji Takanishi Atsuo |
| author_sort | Trovato Gabriele |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | As witnessed in several behavioural studies, a complex relationship exists between people’s cultural background and their general acceptance towards robots. However, very few studies have investigated whether a robot’s original language and gesture based on certain culture have an impact on the people of the different cultures. The purpose of this work is to provide experimental evidence which supports the idea that humans may accept more easily a robot that can adapt to their specific culture. Indeed, improving acceptance and reducing discomfort is fundamental for future deployment of robots as assistive, health-care or companion devices into a society. We conducted a Human- Robot Interaction experiment both in Egypt and in Japan. Human subjects were engaged in a simulated video conference with robots that were greeting and speaking either in Arabic or in Japanese. The subjects completed a questionnaire assessing their preferences and their emotional state, while their spontaneous reactions were recorded in different ways. The results suggest that Egyptians prefer the Arabic robot, while they feel a sense of discomfort when interacting with the Japanese robot; the opposite is also true for the Japanese. These findings confirm the importance of the localisation of a robot in order to improve human acceptance during social human-robot interaction. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:01:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-58ec925717c34b2ea82abfdcf4917dda |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2081-4836 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T09:01:09Z |
| publishDate | 2013-12-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Paladyn |
| spelling | doaj.art-58ec925717c34b2ea82abfdcf4917dda2023-12-02T11:31:28ZengDe GruyterPaladyn2081-48362013-12-0142839310.2478/pjbr-2013-0006Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and JapaneseTrovato Gabriele0Zecca Massimiliano1Sessa Salvatore2Jamone Lorenzo3Ham Jaap4Hashimoto Kenji5Takanishi Atsuo6Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, #41-304, 17 Kikui-cho, Shinjuku-ku, 162-0044 Tokyo, JapanFaculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, and the Humanoid Robotics Institute, Waseda UniversitySchool of Innovative Design Engineering Mechatronics and Robotic Dept., Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Borg El Arab, 21934 Alexandria, EgyptInstituto de Sistemas e Robotica, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais 1, 1049-001 Lisbon, PortugalDepartment of Innovation Sciences, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513 5600 MB, IPO 1.20, Eindhoven, the NetherlandsFaculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda UniversityDepartment of Modern Mechanical Engineering, Waseda University; and director of the Humanoid Robotics Institute (HRI), Waseda UniversityAs witnessed in several behavioural studies, a complex relationship exists between people’s cultural background and their general acceptance towards robots. However, very few studies have investigated whether a robot’s original language and gesture based on certain culture have an impact on the people of the different cultures. The purpose of this work is to provide experimental evidence which supports the idea that humans may accept more easily a robot that can adapt to their specific culture. Indeed, improving acceptance and reducing discomfort is fundamental for future deployment of robots as assistive, health-care or companion devices into a society. We conducted a Human- Robot Interaction experiment both in Egypt and in Japan. Human subjects were engaged in a simulated video conference with robots that were greeting and speaking either in Arabic or in Japanese. The subjects completed a questionnaire assessing their preferences and their emotional state, while their spontaneous reactions were recorded in different ways. The results suggest that Egyptians prefer the Arabic robot, while they feel a sense of discomfort when interacting with the Japanese robot; the opposite is also true for the Japanese. These findings confirm the importance of the localisation of a robot in order to improve human acceptance during social human-robot interaction.https://doi.org/10.2478/pjbr-2013-0006human-robot interactionhumanoid robotscultural differencestechnology social factorssocial robotics |
| spellingShingle | Trovato Gabriele Zecca Massimiliano Sessa Salvatore Jamone Lorenzo Ham Jaap Hashimoto Kenji Takanishi Atsuo Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese Paladyn human-robot interaction humanoid robots cultural differences technology social factors social robotics |
| title | Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese |
| title_full | Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese |
| title_fullStr | Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese |
| title_short | Cross-cultural study on human-robot greeting interaction: acceptance and discomfort by Egyptians and Japanese |
| title_sort | cross cultural study on human robot greeting interaction acceptance and discomfort by egyptians and japanese |
| topic | human-robot interaction humanoid robots cultural differences technology social factors social robotics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/pjbr-2013-0006 |
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