TY - GEN
T1 - Towards culture-specific robot customisation
T2 - 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication: "Living Together, Enjoying Together, and Working Together with Robots!", IEEE RO-MAN 2013
AU - Trovato, Gabriele
AU - Zecca, Massimiliano
AU - Sessa, Salvatore
AU - Jamone, Lorenzo
AU - Ham, Jaap
AU - Hashimoto, Kenji
AU - Takanishi, Atsuo
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - A complex relationship exists between national cultural background and interaction with robots, and many earlier studies have investigated how people from different cultures perceive the inclusion of robots into society. Conversely, very few studies have investigated how robots, speaking and using gestures that belong to a certain national culture, are perceived by humans of different cultural background. The purpose of this work is to prove that humans may better accept a robot that can adapt to their specific national culture. This experiment of Human-Robot Interaction was performed in Egypt. Participants (native Egyptians versus Japanese living in Egypt) were shown two robots greeting them and speaking respectively in Arabic and Japanese, through a simulated video conference. Spontaneous reactions of the human subjects were measured in different ways, and participants completed a questionnaire assessing their preferences and their emotional state. Results suggested that Egyptians prefer the Arabic version of the robot, while they report discomfort when interacting with the Japanese version. These findings confirm the importance of a culture-specific customisation of robots in the context of Human-Robot Interaction.
AB - A complex relationship exists between national cultural background and interaction with robots, and many earlier studies have investigated how people from different cultures perceive the inclusion of robots into society. Conversely, very few studies have investigated how robots, speaking and using gestures that belong to a certain national culture, are perceived by humans of different cultural background. The purpose of this work is to prove that humans may better accept a robot that can adapt to their specific national culture. This experiment of Human-Robot Interaction was performed in Egypt. Participants (native Egyptians versus Japanese living in Egypt) were shown two robots greeting them and speaking respectively in Arabic and Japanese, through a simulated video conference. Spontaneous reactions of the human subjects were measured in different ways, and participants completed a questionnaire assessing their preferences and their emotional state. Results suggested that Egyptians prefer the Arabic version of the robot, while they report discomfort when interacting with the Japanese version. These findings confirm the importance of a culture-specific customisation of robots in the context of Human-Robot Interaction.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84889572102&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628520
DO - 10.1109/ROMAN.2013.6628520
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84889572102
SN - 9781479905072
T3 - Proceedings - IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication
SP - 447
EP - 452
BT - 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication
Y2 - 26 August 2013 through 29 August 2013
ER -