Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Impressions of Humanoids: The Development of a Measure for Evaluating a Humanoid

  • Published:
International Journal of Social Robotics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, we focus on what perspectives people use to perceive a humanoid, and we explore the basic dimensions of a humanoid evaluation by ordinary people. We also develop the psychological scale called PERNOD (PERception to humaNOiD), a humanoid-oriented scale that is based on fundamental dimensions.

Several studies have investigated the psychological evaluation of robots interaction with humans; however, almost studies have methodological limitations because few scales for the evaluation of psychological impressions of humanoids have been developed thus far. This study uses a humanoid of HRP-2 and explores what are the perspectives to evaluate the robot and investigate importance to develop humanoid-oriented scale.

With free descriptions, 157 respondents provided impressions of a humanoid robot, and psychologists categorized the qualitative data into several groups according to psychological meanings of the impressions. Thereafter, the descriptions were organized in the form of a Likert scale in order to develop PERNOD, and 380 additional respondents evaluated a humanoid robot quantitatively using PERNOD. The result of factor analysis indicated that PERNOD comprises five basic dimensions for perceiving humanoid robots: Familiarity, Utility, Motion, Controllability, and Toughness. Some similarities are found in dimensions of evaluation for both humanoids and humans, and original dimensions are found in dimensions for humanoids. The reliability of each sub-scale of PERNOD is statistically high; further, the usability of this scale is discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Reeves B, Nass C (1996) The media equation: how people treat computers, television and new media like real people and places. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kushida K, Nishimura Y, Dohi H, Ishizuka M, Takeuchi J, Tsujino H (2005) Humanoid robot presentation through multimodal presentation markup language MPML-HR. In: Proc of 4th int’l conf on autonomous agents and multi agent systems (AAMAS-05), pp 23–29

    Google Scholar 

  3. Lohse M, Hegel F, Wrede B (2008) Domestic applications for social robots—a user study on appearance and function. J Phys Agents 2:21–32

    Google Scholar 

  4. Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Imai M, Ono T (2004) Development and evaluation of interactive humanoid robots. Proc IEEE, 92:1839–1850 (Special issue on human interactive robot for psychological enrichment)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Muto Y, Takasugi S, Yamamoto T, Miyake Y (2009) Timing control of utterance and gesture in interaction between human and humanoid robot. In: Proc of the IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication, pp 1022–1028

    Google Scholar 

  6. Wang E, Lignos C, Vatsal A, Scassellati B (2006) Effects of head movement on perceptions of humanoid robot behavior. In: Proc of the 2006 ACM conference on human-robot interaction, pp 180–185

    Google Scholar 

  7. Gockley R, Forlizzi J, Simmons R (2006) Interactions with a moody robot. In: Proc of the 2006 ACM conference on human-robot interaction, pp 186–193

    Google Scholar 

  8. Nakagawa K, Shiomi M, Shinozawa K, Matsumura R, Ishiguro H, Hagita N (2013) Effect of robot’s whispering behavior on people’s motivation. Int J Soc Robot 5:5–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Fujimoto T, Matsumoto T, De Silva PRS, Kobayashi M, Higashi M (2013) Mimicking and evaluating human motion to improve the imitation skill of children with autism through a robot. Int J Soc Robot 3:349–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zitzewitz J, Boesch PM, Wolf P, Riener R (2013) Quantifying the human likeness of a humanoid robot. Int J Soc Robot 3:1875–4791

    Google Scholar 

  11. Negi S, Arai T, Inoue K, Ujiie Y, Takubo T (2008) Psychological assessment of humanoid robot appearance and performance using virtual reality. In: Proc of 17th IEEE international symposium on robot and human interactive communication (RO-MAN2008), pp 719–724

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  12. Inoue K, Ujiie Y, Takubo T, Arai T (2007) Psychological evaluation for rough shape of humanoid robots using virtual reality. In: Proc of 13th international conference on advanced robotics (ICAR 2007), pp 1005–1010

    Google Scholar 

  13. Inoue K, Nonaka S, Ujiie Y, Takubo T, Arai T (2005) Evaluation of human sense of security for coexisting robots using virtual reality (4th report: comparison between real and virtual robots). In: Proc of SICE annual conference 2005, pp 3879–3882.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Osgood CE (1964) Semantic differential technique in the comparative study of cultures. Am Anthropol 66:171–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Osgood CE (1969) On the whys and wherefores of E, P, and A. J Pers Soc Psychol 12:194–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Bartneck C, Croft E, Kulic D, Zoghbi S (2009) Measurement instruments for the anthropomorphism, animacy, likeability, perceived intelligence, and perceived safety of robots. Int J Soc Robot 1:71–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Kamide H, Mae Y, Takubo T, Ohara K, Arai T (2010) Development of a scale of perception to humanoid robots: PERNOD. In: Proc of 2010 IEEE/RSJ international conference on intelligent robots and systems, pp 5830–5835

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. Bruner JS, Tagiuri R (1954) The perception of people. In: Lindzey G (ed) Handbook of social psychology. Addison-Wesley, Reading, pp 634–654

    Google Scholar 

  19. Cronbach LJ (1955) Processes affecting scores on “understanding of others” and “assumed similarity”. Psychol Bull 52:177–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Levy LH, Dugan RD (1960) A constant error approach to the study of dimensions of social perception. J Abnorm Soc Psychol 61:21–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Norman WT (1963) Toward an adequate taxonomy of personality attributes: replicated factor structure in peer nomination personality ratings. J Abnorm Soc Psychol 66:574–583

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Nakazato H, Bond M, Shiraishi D (1976) Dimensions of personality perception: an examination of Norman’s hypothesis. Jpn J Psychol 47:139–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Hayashi F (1978) The fundamental dimensions of interpersonal cognitive structure. Bull Fac Educ Nagoya Univ 25:233–247 (in Japanese)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Fiske ST, Cuddy A, Glick P (2007) Universal dimensions of social cognition: warmth and competence. Trends Cogn Sci 2:77–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mulaik SA (1964) Are personality factors rater’s conceptual factors? J Consult Psychol 28:506–511

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Passini FT, Norman WT (1966) A universal conception of personality structure? J Pers Soc Psychol 4:44–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Osgood CE, Suci GJ, Tannenbaum PH (1957) The measurement of meaning. University of Illinois Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  28. Kaneko K, Kanehiro F, Kajita S, Hirukawa H, Kawasaki T, Hirata M, Akachi K, Isozumi T (2004) Humanoid robot HRP-2. In: Proc of the 2004 IEEE international conference on robotics & automation, pp 1083–1090

    Google Scholar 

  29. Likert R (1932) A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Arch Psychol 140:44–53

    Google Scholar 

  30. Matell MS, Jacoby L (1972) Is there an optimal number of alternatives for Likert-scale items? J Appl Psychol 56:506–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Komorita SS (1963) Attitude content, intensity, and the neutral point on a Likert scale. J Soc Psychol 61:327–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Cunninham EG, Wang WC (2005) Using Amos graphics to enhance the understanding and communication of multiple regression. In: IASE/ISI satellite publications

    Google Scholar 

  33. http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications/14/cunningham.pdf

  34. Bentler PM (1980) Multivariate analysis with latent variables: causal modeling. Annu Rev Psychol 31:419–456

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Joreskog KG, Sorbom D (1989) Lisrel 7: a guide to the program and applications. SPSS, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  36. Bentler PM (1990) Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychol Bull 107:238–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Joreskog KG, Sorbom D (1981) Lisrel V: analysis of linear structural relationships by the method of maximum likelihood. National Educational Resources, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  38. Cuttance P (1987) Issues and problems in the application of structural equation models. In: Cuttance P, Ecob R (eds) Structural modeling by example: applications in educational, sociological, and behavioral research. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 241–279

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

H. Kamide thanks to Ikuo Daibo, Naoki Kugihara, Yuji Kanemasa, and Junichi Taniguchi for their collection of some of data used in the main study. This research was supported by Global COE Program “Center of Human-Friendly Robotics Based on Cognitive Neuroscience” of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyamacho, Toyonaka, 560-8531, Japan

    Hiroko Kamide, Yasushi Mae & Tatsuo Arai

  2. Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka City University, 3-3-138 Sugimoto, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka, 558-8585, Japan

    Tomohito Takubo

  3. Faculty of Science and Technology, Meijo University, 1-501 Shiogamaguchi, Tenpaku, Nagoya, 468-8502, Japan

    Kenichi Ohara

Authors
  1. Hiroko Kamide
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tomohito Takubo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kenichi Ohara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yasushi Mae
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tatsuo Arai
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hiroko Kamide.

Additional information

This paper is an extended version of previous work [17], and additionally contains the improved results and more detailed discussions.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kamide, H., Takubo, T., Ohara, K. et al. Impressions of Humanoids: The Development of a Measure for Evaluating a Humanoid. Int J of Soc Robotics 6, 33–44 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-013-0187-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-013-0187-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation