Abstract
This paper reports the results of questionnaire-based research conducted at an exhibition of interactive humanoid robots that was held at the Osaka Science Museum, Japan. The aim of this exhibition was to investigate the feasibility of communication robots connected to a ubiquitous sensor network, under the assumption that these robots will be practically used in daily life in the not-so-distant future. More than 90,000 people visited the exhibition. A questionnaire was given to the visitors to explore their opinions of the robots. Statistical analysis was done on the data of 2,301 respondents. It was found that the visitors’ opinions varied according to age; younger visitors did not necessarily like the robots more than elderly visitors; positive evaluation of the robots did not necessarily conflict with negative evaluations such as anxiety; there was no gender difference; and there was almost no correlation between opinions and the length of time spent near the robots.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. We wish to thank the staff at the Osaka Science Museum for their highly appreciated cooperation and helpful suggestions: Hideaki Terauchi, Toshihiko Shibata, Koutarou Hayashi, Masaaki Kakio, Taichi Tajika, and Fumitaka Yamaoka.
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Nomura, T., Tasaki, T., Kanda, T. et al. Questionnaire-based social research on opinions of Japanese visitors for communication robots at an exhibition. AI & Soc 21, 167–183 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0053-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-006-0053-6