Comedians in cafes getting data: Evaluating timing and adaptivity in real-world robot comedy performance

Abstract

Social robots and autonomous social agents are becoming more ingrained in our everyday lives. Interactive agents from Siri to Anki's Cozmo robot include the ability to tell jokes to engage users. This ability will build in importance as in-home social agents take on more intimate roles, so it is important to gain a greater understanding of how robots can best use humor. Stand-up comedy provides a naturally-structured experimental context for initial studies of robot humor. In this preliminary work, we aimed to compare audience responses to a robotic stand-up comedian over multiple performances that varied robot timing and adaptivity. Our first study of 22 performances in the wild showed that a robot with good timing was significantly funnier. A second study of 10 performances found that an adaptive performance was not necessarily funnier, although adaptations almost always improved audience perception of individual jokes. The end result of this research provides key clues for how social robots can best engage people with humor.