Good vibrations: How consequential sounds affect perception of robotic arms

How does a robot's sound shape our perception of it? We overlaid sound from high-end and low-end robot arms on videos of the high-end KUKA youBot desktop robotic arm moving a small block in functional (working in isolation) and social (interacting with a human) contexts. The low-end audio was sourced from an inexpensive OWI arm. Crowdsourced participants watched one video each and rated the robot along dimensions of competence, trust, aesthetic, and human-likeness. We found that the presence and quality of sound shapes subjective perception of the KUKA arm. The presence of any sound reduced human-likeness and aesthetic ratings, however the high-end sound rated better in the competence evaluation in the social context measures when compared to no sound. Overall, the social context increased the perceived competence, trust, aesthetic and human-likeness of the robot. Based on motor sound's significant mixed impact on visual perception of robots, we discuss implications for sound design of interactive systems.