Session: Research Posters

Paper Number: 172920

Perception of Social Robots: Storytelling for Public Library Patrons 

Human robot interaction (HRI) is an evolving interdisciplinary field focused on understanding the relationship between people and autonomous machines. The goal is to optimize robot design and behavior for positive outcomes. 

The focus of this research project is to analyze the perception of humanoid robots in a storytelling setting, culminating in an extension of the research previously conducted in the field of HRI for reading and literacy. Robot voice style [1, 2], expressive motion [3], and the selection of the SoftBank Robotics robot Pepper [4, 5, 6] were all choices made based on previous research.

Through a partnership with Nevin’s Memorial Library, the robot was deployed for four months. In that time, patrons had the option to read any combination of 8 stories requested by the library. These stories were coded in Python and uploaded to Pepper using the Choregraphe integrated development environment. When an interaction finished, participants were presented with an optional 19-question adaptation of Bartneck’s Godspeed Questionnaire Series [7]. This survey gauges the user’s perception of the robot on five scales consisting of a series of Likert-style questions, weighted 1-5. Those scales include: anthropomorphism, animacy, likability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety. 

Currently, 31 people have volunteered to participate. The survey provides 3 demographic questions: age, gender, and experience with robots. Patron age varies from 3 to 72, with an average of 18.4 years. Of the 31 patrons, 17 are self-described males and 13 are self-described females. One patron elected not to provide their gender and is excluded from gender-based analysis. In terms of experience, 20 have none, and 8 have interacted with a humanoid robot before. Three people chose “maybe” as their answer. These answers are excluded from experience-based analysis. For now, this study is limited to a small sample size; however, there are plans to gather more data in the future.

Current data was validated for all five scales using Cronbach’s alpha. Alpha for each descriptor is reported as follows: Anthropomorphism (α = 0.75), Animacy (α = 0.71), Likability (α = 0.87), Intelligence (α = -0.08), and Safety (α = 0.94). Descriptive statistics were also generated for all five scales over two of the anonymous demographics: gender and experience with robots. Cumulative descriptive statistics for each scale were also considered. These statistics show that males and those who have experience with robots typically perceive Pepper as more anthropomorphic than others. They also show that males perceive the robot as inanimate and generally feel safer than females do. Everyone, however, enjoyed their interaction with Pepper. Welch’s t-test was run for every question to determine exactly where the data was statistically significant. This narrows the data down to the trends of specific questions, showing a novelty factor in how much patrons enjoy their interaction based on their level of experience. It also shows that the small number of people afraid of Pepper were females, and the majority of them had no experience with humanoid robots. This could suggest many things, including a relationship between comfort and familiarity with the robot. 

Finally, the data was compared to previously published findings from a study on storytelling robot perception conducted over the COVID-19 lockdown [4]. This study was chosen due to the use of the GQS and the format of reported data. Welch’s t-test was again used to compare the two studies, where it was found that Pepper scores significantly higher in reading and literacy for the anthropomorphism, animacy, and likability scales. These preliminary findings suggest storytelling as a positive medium for HRI and provide a reference for future research in the field.

 

References

[1] B. De Carolis, F. D’Errico, and V. Rossano, Pepper as a Storyteller: Exploring the Effect of Human vs. Robot Voice on Children’s Emotional Experience, pp. 471–480. Springer International Publishing, 2021.

[2] S. C. Steinhaeusser, P. Schaper, O. Bediako Akuffo, P. Friedrich, J. ¨On, and B. Lugrin, “Anthropomorphize me!: Effects of robot gender on listeners’ perception of the social robot nao in a storytelling use case,” in Companion of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI ’21, ACM, Mar. 2021.

[3] D. Conti, A. Di Nuovo, C. Cirasa, and S. Di Nuovo, “A comparison of kindergarten storytelling by human and humanoid robot with different social behavior,” in Proceedings of the Companion of the 2017 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI ’17, pp. 97–98, ACM, Mar. 2017.

[4] S. C. Steinhaeusser, R. Piller, and B. Lugrin, “Combining emotional gestures, sound effects, and background music for robotic storytelling - effects on storytelling experience, emotion induction, and robot perception,” in Proceedings of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI ’24, (New York, NY, USA), p. 687–696, Association for Computing Machinery, 2024.

[5] X. Ye, Human Security Robot Interaction and Anthropomorphism. PhD thesis, University of Michigan, 2023.

[6] “Softbanks Robotics Documentation.” http://doc.aldebaran.com/2-5/family/peppertechnical/indexpep.html. Accessed : 2024 − 02 − 1.

[7] C. Bartneck, D. Kuli´c, E. Croft, and S. Zoghbi, “Measurement instruments for the anthropomorphism, animacy, likeability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety of robots,” International Journal of Social Robotics, vol. 1, pp. 71–81, Nov. 2008.

Presenting Author: Nicholas Tessitore Merrimack College

Presenting Author Biography: Graduated in 2025 from Merrimack College with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. Currently pursuing an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering under a graduate fellowship at Merrimack College. This research project started as a directed study and grew into an undergraduate researcher position for me and my fellow undergraduate co-authors.

Authors:

Eagan Olson Merrimack College
John Ryan Merrimack College
Nicholas Tessitore Merrimack College
R A Caldwell Jr. Merrimack College
Nicholas A Valente Merrimack College
Brianna Raphino Merrimack College