Effect of Working with a Shape-Shifting Robot on User Impressions

Abstract

In this study, we propose a Shape-Shifting Robot that dynamically changes its appearance according to the task at hand. The proposed method involves designing a robot that transforms into a vehicle form when transporting objects and into a humanoid form when interacting with humans. The control of the robot is achieved by capturing the screen of a smartphone app for operation onto a PC and automatically operating mouse clicks through remote control software. To investigate the effect of the Shape-Shifting Robot on user impressions, we conducted a participant experiment in which users and the robot performed collaborative tasks. The results suggested that under task success conditions, the robot’s transformation led to higher evaluations of task appropriateness and favorability. On the other hand, in conditions where the robot failed the task, it was suggested that users rated the robot’s sociability, naturalness of conversation, affinity, and acceptability higher in the shape-shifting condition compared to the non-shape-shifting condition.