Human Group Presence, Group Characteristics, and Group Norms Affect Human-Robot Interaction in Naturalistic Settings

As robots become more prevalent in public spaces, such as museums, malls, and schools, they are coming into increasing contact with groups of people, rather than just individuals. Groups, compared to individuals, can differ in robot acceptance based on the mere presence of a group, group characteristics such as entitativity (i.e., cohesiveness), and group social norms; however, group dynamics are seldom studied in relation to robots in naturalistic settings. To examine how these factors affect human-robot interaction, we observed 2,714 people in a Japanese mall receiving directions from the humanoid robot Robovie. Video and survey responses evaluating the interaction indicate that groups, especially entitative groups, interacted more often, for longer, and more positively with the robot than individuals. Participants also followed the social norms of the groups they were part of; participants who would not be expected to interact with the robot based on their individual characteristics were more likely to interact with it if other members of their group did. These results illustrate the importance of taking into account the presence of a group, group characteristics, and group norms when designing robots for successful interactions in naturalistic settings.