Effects of Gestures and Negative Attitudes on Impressions of Lecturing Robots

Android avatar robots have a potential to be applied to various real-world scenarios. We have conducted lectures using our android in diverse settings such as conferences. Several previous studies indicated that gestures can play an important role in human-robot interaction (HRI). The current study focused on the fundamental question of whether gestures are necessary for android robot and explored the relationship between gestures and negative attitudes toward robots. Experimental results showed that android robot with gestures enhances their anthropomorphism and animacy. The results also showed that without gestures, people with high negative attitude toward situations of interaction with robots evaluate the android robot lower. With gestures, people with high negative attitude toward emotions in interaction with robots evaluate the android robot higher. This might suggest that people with high negative attitudes toward robots pay more attention to the android with gestures and thus appreciate it more in lectures.