Abstract
This paper presents a cross-cultural study on peoples’ negative attitude toward robots. 467 participants from seven different countries filled in the negative attitude towards robots scale survey which consists of 14 questions in three clusters: attitude towards the interaction with robots, attitude towards social influence of robots and attitude towards emotions in interaction with robots. Around one half of them were recruited at local universities and the other half was approached through Aibo online communities. The participants’ cultural background had a significant influence on their attitude and the Japanese were not as positive as stereotypically assumed. The US participants had the most positive attitude, while participants from Mexico had the most negative attitude. The participants from the online community were more positive towards robots than those not involved. Previous experience in interacting with Aibo also had a positive effect, but owning an Aibo did not improve their attitude.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bartneck C, Forlizzi J (2004) A design-centred framework for social human–robot interaction. In: Proceedings of the Ro-Man2004, Kurashiki
Bartneck C, Okada M (2001) Robotic user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the human and computer conference (HC2001), Aizu
Breazeal C (2003) Designing sociable robots. MIT Press, Cambridge
Breemen AJN v, Yan X, Meerbeek B (2005) iCat: an animated user-interface robot with personality. In: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on autonomous agents and multi agent systems, Utrecht
Burgard W, Cremers AB, Fox D, Hahnel D, Lakemeyer G, Schulz D et al (1998) The interactive museum tour-guide robot. In: Proceedings of the artificial intelligence/innovative applications of artificial intelligence, Madison
Cameron J (Writer) (1984) The Terminator [DVD]. In: J. Daly (Producer): MGM
Fong T, Nourbakhsh I, Dautenhahn K (2003) A survey of socially interactive robots. Rob Auton Syst 42:143–166
Gemperle F, DiSalvo C, Forlizzi J, Yonkers W (2003) The Hug: a new form for communication. In: Proceedings of the designing the user experience (DUX2003), New York
Hirsch T, Forlizzi J, Hyder E, Goetz J, Stroback J, Kurtz C (2000) The ELDeR project: social and emotional factors in the design of eldercare technologies. In: Proceedings of the conference on universal usability, Arlington
Hofstede GH (1991) Cultures and organizations: software of the mind London. McGraw-Hill, New York
Intini J (2005) Robo-sapiens rising: Sony, Honda and others are spending millions to put a robot in your house. http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/science/article.jsp?content = 20050718_109126_109126
Kanda T, Hirano T, Eaton D, Ishigur H (2004) Interactive robots as social partners and peer tutors for children: a field trial. Human computer interaction. Spec Issues Human Robot Interact 19(1–2):61–84
Kaplan F (2004) Who is afraid of the humanoid? Investigating cultural differences in the acceptance of robots. Int J Human Robot 1(3):1–16
NEC (2001). PaPeRo. from http://www.incx.nec.co.jp/robot/PaPeRo/english/p_index.html
Nomura T, Kanda T, Suzuki T (2004) Experimental investigationi into influence of negative attitudes toward robots on human-robot interaction. In: Proceedings of the 3rd workshop on social intelligence design (SID2004), Twente
Nomura T, Kanda T, Suzuki T, Kato K (2005) People’s assumptions about robots: investigation of their relationships with attitudes and emotions toward robots. In: Proceedings of the IEEE international workshop on robot and human communication (ROMAN2005), Nashville
Okada M (2001, 2001) Muu: artificial creatures as an embodied interface. In: Proceedings of the ACM Siggraph 2001, New Orleans
Raub AC (1981) Correlates of computer anxiety in college students. PhD Thesis, University of Pennsylvania
Sloterdijk P (2002) L’Heure du Crime et le Temps de l’Oeuvre d’Art: Calman-Levy
Sony (1999). Aibo. From http://www.aibo.com
United Nations (2005). World robotics 2005. United Nations Publication, Geneva
Wachowski A, Wachowski L (Writer) (2003) Animatrix
Wada K, Shibata T, Saito T, Tanie K (2004) Effects of robot-assisted activity for elderly people and nurses at a day service center. Proc IEEE 92(11):1780–1788
WowWee (2005) Robosapien. http://www.wowwee.com/robosapien/robo1/robomain.html
Yamamoto S (1983) Why the Japanese have no allergy towards robots. L’esprit d’aujourd’hui (Gendai no Esupuri), 187:136–143
ZMP (2005) Nuvo. http://www.nuvo.jp/nuvo_home_e.html
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Jodi Forlizzi, Oscar Mayora Ibarra, Hu Jun and Juliane Reichenbach, Kennsuke Kato, Kerstin Dautenhahn and Sarah Woods for their generous help in gathering the data. In addition, we would like to thank Chi Ho Chan, David Cournapeau, Nathalia Romero Herrera, Alice Jager, Roberto Lopez and Machi Takahachi for their efforts in translating the questionnaire. This study was supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication, Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Appendix
Appendix
Screenshot of the questionnaire
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bartneck, C., Suzuki, T., Kanda, T. et al. The influence of people’s culture and prior experiences with Aibo on their attitude towards robots. AI & Soc 21, 217–230 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0052-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0052-7