Abstract
It is well established that people perceive robots as social entities, even when they are not designed for social interaction. We evaluated whether the social interpretation of robotic gestures should also be considered when turning off a robot. In the experiment, participants engaged in a brief preliminary neutral interaction while a robotic arm showed interest in their actions. At the end of the task, participants were asked to turn off the robotic arm under two conditions: (1) a Non-designed condition, where all of the robot's engines were immediately and simultaneously turned off, as robots typically shut down; (2) a Designed condition, where the robot's engines gradually folded inward in a motion resembling "falling asleep." Our findings revealed that all participants anthropomorphized the robot's movement when it was turned off. In the Non-designed condition, most participants interpreted the robot's turn-off movement negatively, as if the robot had "died." In the Designed condition, most participants interpreted it more neutrally, stating that the robot "went to sleep." The robot's turn-off movement also impacted its perception, leading to higher likeability, perceived intelligence, and animacy in the Designed condition. We conclude that the impact of common edge interactions, such as turning off a robot, should be carefully designed while considering people's automatic tendency to perceive robots as social entities.
Abstract (translated)
人们早已认识到，即使机器人并非为社交互动而设计，也会将其视为社会实体。我们评估了在关闭机器人的过程中是否也应该考虑其行为的社会性解释。实验中，参与者与一只表现出对其动作感兴趣的手臂机器人进行了简短的初步中立互动。任务结束时，在两种条件下要求参与者关闭手臂机器人：(1)非设计条件，即所有机器人的引擎立即且同时关机，就像典型的机器人关机方式一样；(2)设计条件，机器人各部依次逐渐向内折叠，其动作看起来像“进入睡眠”。 研究结果表明，当在实验中关闭机器人时，参与者都会对机器人运动进行拟人化。在非设计条件下，大多数参与者将机器人的关机行为解读为负面的，仿佛机器人“死亡”了。而在设计条件下的情况下，多数参与者则将其解读得更为中立，表示机器人只是“入睡”。 此外，机器人的关机方式也影响到了其感知，使得设计条件下的机器人在喜欢程度、感知智能度和生机感方面都得到了更高的评价。 因此，我们得出结论，在考虑人们自动将机器人视为社会实体的趋势时，应当仔细设计诸如关闭机器人等常见互动边缘的交互行为。
URL
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.06934
