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Findings are presented from a Human Robot Interaction (HRI) Demonstration Trial where attendees approached a stationary mechanical looking robot to a comfortable distance. Instructions were given to participants by the robot using either a high quality male, a high quality female, a neutral synthesized voice, or by the experimenter (no robot voice). Approaches to the robot with synthesized voice were found to induce significantly further approach distances. Those who had experienced a previous encounter with the robot tended to approach closer to the robot. Possible reasons for this are discussed.
Walters et al. (Fri,) studied this question.