The influence of robot personality on perceived and preferred level of user control

Meerbeek, Bernt; Hoonhout, Jettie; Bingley, Peter; Terken, Jacques M.B.

doi:10.1075/is.9.2.04mee

Article published In: Human and Robot Interactive Communication
Edited by Kerstin Dautenhahn
[Interaction Studies 9:2] 2008
► pp. 204–229

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The influence of robot personality on perceived and preferred level of user control

Bernt Meerbeek | Philips Research, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Jettie Hoonhout

Peter Bingley

Jacques M.B. Terken | Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands

Published online: 26 May 2008

https://doi.org/10.1075/is.9.2.04mee

This paper describes the design and evaluation of a personality for the robotic user interface “iCat”. An application was developed that helps users find a TV-programme that fits their interests. Two experiments were conducted to investigate what personality users prefer for the robotic TV-assistant, what level of control they prefer (i.e. how autonomous the robot should behave), and how personality and the level of control relate to each other. The first experiment demonstrated that it is possible to create convincing personalities of the TV-assistant by applying various social cues. The results of the second experiment showed that an extravert and agreeable TV-assistant was preferred over a more introvert and formal one. Overall, the most preferred combination was an extravert and friendly personality with low user control. Additionally, it was found that perceived level of control was influenced by the robot’s personality. This suggests that the robot’s personality can be used as a means to increase the amount of control that users perceive.

Keywords: home robotics, user control, personal robot, robotic user interfaces, human–robot interaction, personality

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