Effects of Social Robot’s Face and Interface Design on Operation Efficiency and User Perceptions

Abstract

Currently, humanoid service robots or social robots have been used in many places, such as hospitals, shopping malls, and hotels, etc. The robots are mainly divided into two forms: one is a form in which the head of the robot is separated from the interactive interface, and the other has only one integrated head and interactive user interface. Which of these two forms of robots is more efficient for users’ operations, and which one gives people better perceptions, is worthy of our in-depth exploration. The purpose of this study was to adopt the method of combining eye tracking and evaluation scale to help investigate the influence of different display forms on the user’s operation efficiency and perceptions pertinent to social robots. The generated results are as follows: (1) Both the appearance of the robot and the level of abstraction of the robot’s face affect participants’ perceptions of them to some extent. (2) The robot with abstract face was considered more humanlike and was much liked than the robot with concrete face. (3) It is generally believed that the separate form of the robot head and the user interface make the robot look more like a human and have a better impression. (4) Robots with separated head and operating interface were considered to have higher operability.