Are people ready for social robots in public spaces?

Abstract

Recent developments in robotics are potentially changing the nature of service, and research in human-robot interaction has previously shown that humanoid robots could possibly work in public spaces. We conducted an ethnographic study with the humanoid robot Pepper at a central train station. The results indicate that people are not yet accustomed to talking to robots, and people seem to expect that the robot does not talk, that it is a queue ticket machine, or that, one should interact with it by using the tablet on the robot's chest.