Abstract— The first robotic copies of real humans have
become available. They enable their users to be physically
present in multiple locations at the same time. This study
investigates what influence the embodiment of an agent has on
its persuasiveness and its perceived personality. Is a robotic
copy as persuasive as its human counterpart? Does it have the
same personality? We performed an experiment in which the
embodiment of the agent was the independent variable and the
persuasiveness and perceived personality were the dependent
measurement. The persuasive agent advertised a Bluetooth
headset. The results show that an android is found to be as
persuasive as a real human or a video recording of a real
human. The personality of the participant had a considerable
influence on the measurements. Participants that were more
open to new experiences rated the persuasive agent lower on
agreeableness and extroversion. They were also more willing to
spend money on the advertised product.
I. INTRODUCTION
great advantage of having a robotic copy of yourself
is the ability to be physically present in two locations at
the same time. In particular politicians might appreciate the
ability to give two speeches at the same time during an
election campaign. But while the physical appearances of
androids have become almost indistinguishable from their
human originals (see Figure 1), it is not clear to what degree
the androids are able to convey the same personality and
persuasive power as their human originals. Moreover,
androids need to show a significant advantage to a screen
character to justify the extra costs. A simple video
transmission is currently easier and cheaper than a robotic
copy, but some situations require a representation that is
truly 3D. Human doppelgangers, for example, are frequently
used to confuse paparazzi and terrorists. Robotic

Manuscript received February 11, 2009. This research was supported by
the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan. The
Geminoid HI-1 has been developed in the ATR Intelligent Robotics and
Communications Laboratories.
K. Ogawa, T. Kanda, and H. Ishiguro are with ATR Intelligent Robotics
and Communications Lab, 2-2-2 Hikaridai, Seikacho, Sorakugun, Kyoto
619-0288, Japan (e-mail: [ogawa, kanda, ishiguro]@atr.jp).
C. Bartneck is with the Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven
University of Technology, Den Dolech 2, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The
Netherlands (phone: +31 (0)402475175; e-mail: c.bartneck@tue.nl).
T. Ono and K. Ogawa are with Future University-Hakodate, School of
Systems Information Science, Department of Media Architecture, 116-2
Kamedanakano-cho, Hakodate 041-8655, Hokkaido, Japan (e-mail:
tono@fun.ac.jp)
D. Sakamoto is JSPS Research Fellow, Graduate School of Information
Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-
ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan (e-mail: d.sakamoto@gmail.com)



doppelganger could take over their owners place and ease
some of the ethical difficulties associated with this
dangerous business. It would matter much less if a robotic
doppelganger would take a bullet than a human
doppelganger. In this study we do not want to focus on the
pure appearance of a robotic doppelganger, but on the
persuasive power and personality androids may have. After
all, it would be desirable if your robotic copy possesses the
same persuasiveness and personality as yourself.

Figure 1:Geminiod HI-1 and Hiroshi Ishiguro
Persuasion can be defined as a social influence. It occurs
when one person attempts to induce change in the beliefs,
attitudes, or behavior of another person or a group of people
[1]. Previous studies showed that the success of the
persuasion depends on the source of the message [2, 3], the
strength of the argument [4], and on the person being
influenced [2, 5].
The persuasiveness of technology has become an
important research field [6] and many robots are used in
contexts where their main or primary purpose is to change
the attitude, behavior or opinions of humans [7]. First
studies on the persuasiveness of virtual characters and robots
show promising results. Zanbaka et al. [1] compared the
persuasiveness of virtual characters with the one of real
humans by communicating the benefits of comprehensive
exams to college students. They concluded that virtual
characters are found to be as persuasive as real humans and
that the realism of the character had no effect on its
persuasive power. Shinozawa et al. used either a screen
character or a robot to give recommendations to users. Their
results showed that a robot’s recommendation was stronger
than that of a screen character [8]. Powers et al. compared
people’s response in a health interview to a screen agent and
Can An Android Persuade You?
Kohei Ogawa, Christoph Bartneck, Daisuke Sakamoto
Takayuki Kanda, Member, IEEE, Tetsuo Ono, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Member, IEEE
A
The 18th IEEE International Symposium on
Robot and Human Interactive Communication
Toyama, Japan, Sept. 27-Oct. 2, 2009
WeIAH.16
978-1-4244-5081-7/09/$26.00 ©2009 IEEE 516