Hiroko Kamide

New measurement of psychological safety for humanoid

In this article, we aim to discover the important factors for determining the psychological safety of humanoids and to develop a new psychological scale to measure the degree of safety quantitatively. To discover the factors that determine the psychological safety of humanoids from an ordinary persons perspective, we studied 919 Japanese, who observed movies of 11 humanoids and then freely described their impressions about what the safety of each humanoid was for them. Five psychologists categorized all of the obtained descriptions into several categories and then used the categories to compose a new psychological scale. Then, 2,624 different Japanese evaluated the same 11 humanoids using the new scale. Factor analysis on the obtained quantitative data revealed six factors of psychological safety: Performance, Humanness, Acceptance, Harmlessness, Toughness, and Agency. Additional analysis revealed that Performance, Acceptance, Harmlessness, and Toughness were the most important factors for determining the psychological safety of general humanoids. The usability of the new scale is discussed.

Comparative evaluation of virtual and real humanoid with robot-oriented psychology scale

The aim of this study was to compare a robot designed using a virtual reality (VR) system (termed VR robot) with a real robot by using a psychological evaluation to investigate whether the VR robot can be used in the same manner as a real robot. To make the direct comparison between a VR and real robots possible, the same designed robots in both VR and real are used in the experiment. For evaluating the robots on a psychological basis, we focused on six basic dimensions (Utility, Clumsiness of motion, Possibility of communication, Controllability, Vulnerability, and Objective hardness) that ordinary people generally use to perceive robots. Sixty-one participants observed and evaluated a real and VR humanoid robots using a psychological scale. Results show that the real robot was evaluated to have higher scores for Utility, Possibility of communication, and Objective hardness and lower ones for Controllability as compared to a VR robot. The Vulnerability scores of the real robot and the VR robot were not significantly different. The usability of a VR robot is discussed in the paper.

Development of a psychological scale for general impressions of humanoid

This study identifies the basic perspectives that ordinary people use to evaluate humanoids (Study 1) and develops a new psychological scale to quantify general impressions toward humanoids based on these basic perspectives (Study 2). Then we investigate the effect of the attributes of humans (sex and age) on evaluations of humanoid using the scale (Study 3). Study 1 used 11 humanoids and collected data from 919 Japanese people. People described their natural impressions about the robots in free text. Descriptions are categorized into several groups and the items of the scale are made based on the descriptions. In Study 2, 2624 Japanese evaluate 11 humanoids on the developed scale. Factor analysis showed that nine factors should be used for evaluating the general impressions regarding humanoids: Familiarity, Repulsion, Performance, Utility, Motion, Sound, Voice, Humanness, and Agency. The factor structure is clear and its reliability as a psychological scale is satisfactorily high. Study 3 reveals that effect of sex and age relate to evaluations of humanoid such as middle-aged and older females tend to rate Familiarity and Humanness of all humanoids higher. We discuss usability of the scale.

Development of a scale of perception to humanoid robots: PERNOD

In this study we explored basic dimensions used to perceive humanoid robots and developed a scale to evaluate perception of humanoid robots, PERNOD. Previous studies of perception of humanoid robots used psychological scales created for interpersonal perception between humans. This study clarified the basic dimensions of perception of humanoid robots and developed PERNOD by means of psychological methodology. The results revealed six basic dimensions of perception of humanoid robots: Utility, Clumsiness of motion, Possibility of communication, Controllability, Vulnerability, and Objective hardness. The 6 dimensions of PERNOD were originally developed for humanoid robots. Thus, these dimensions represent the organization of knowledge used in the recognition of humanoid robots. Usability of PERNOD was discussed.

A psychological scale for general impressions of humanoids

This study identifies the basic general perspectives that ordinary people use to evaluate humanoids (Study 1). In addition, it develops a new psychological scale to quantify general impressions regarding humanoids based on these basic perspectives (Study 2). In Study 1, to discover the basic perspectives toward humanoids, we used 11 humanoids and collected data from 919 Japanese people ranging from teenagers to people in their 70s in three big cities. We asked people to describe their impressions in free text about the robots. Five psychologists analyzed the qualitative data to categorize all the descriptions into several categories. Then, we made the items based on the obtained descriptions to construct a new psychological scale for evaluating general impressions regarding humanoids. In Study 2, we asked 2,624 Japanese who did not participate in Study 1 to evaluate 11 humanoids on the developed scale. Factor analysis showed that nine factors should be used for evaluating the general impressions regarding humanoids: Familiarity, Repulsion, Performance, Utility, Motion, Sound, Voice, Humanness, and Entitativity. The factor structure is clear and its reliability as a psychological scale is satisfactorily high. Finally, we discuss the usability of the new scale.

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

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.

Direct comparison of psychological evaluation between virtual and real humanoids: Personal space and subjective impressions ☆

Abstract The aim of this study was to compare psychological evaluations of a robot constructed using a virtual reality (VR) system (VR robot) with a real robot. The same design was used for both the VR and real robot in order to make a direct comparison. For the psychological evaluation, we measured behavioral reactions (the amount of personal space the participants desired between themselves and the robot) and subjective impressions (from a psychological scale). The psychological scale included six dimensions that are typically used to evaluate a humanoid: utility, clumsiness of motion, possibility of communication, controllability, vulnerability, and objective hardness. Sixty-one participants observed both the VR and real robots walking toward them and reported their level of desired personal space. Next, the participants evaluated their psychological impressions of the robots. The results indicated no significant difference in the level of desired personal space between the situations with the real and VR robots. However, regarding the psychological dimensions, participants reported higher scores for utility and the possibility of communication, and lower scores for controllability for the real robot as compared with the VR robot. The usability of a VR robot is discussed.

Anshin as a concept of subjective well-being between humans and robots in Japan

In this article, we aim to discover the basic factors for determining Anshin of humanoids from the viewpoint of potential users and to develop a new psychological scale to measure the degree of Anshin quantitatively. Anshin is a prevailing concept of subjective well-being that Japanese people feel toward their life with artificial products including service robots. To examine the factors that determine Anshin of humanoids from a lay person’s perspective, we studied the responses of 919 Japanese who observed movies of 11 humanoids and then freely described their impressions about what Anshin of each humanoid meant to them. The descriptions were classified into several categories to develop the items of a new scale. Subsequently, 2624 different Japanese participants evaluated the same 11 humanoids using the new scale. Factor analysis revealed five factors of Anshin: Comfort, Performance, Peace of mind, Controllability, and Robot-likeness. The usability and implications of the new scale are discussed.

Nonverbal behaviors toward an audience and a screen for a presentation by a humanoid robot

Objective: We propose a model which predicts patterns of nonverbal behaviors for a successful presentation by a humanoidrobot, especially focusing on two types of the behaviors. One is the nonverbal behaviors of eye-contact with its face and openpostures with arms to keep an attention of an audience who are listening to the presentation. The other is pointing with its handand approaching to a screen with a step to emphasis important points on the screen which is used in the presentation. Methods: We tested the hypothesis that both types of nonverbal behaviors are effective for ensuring better understanding of thepresentation. We prepared four conditions which show high or low tendency in each type of the nonverbal behaviors. A totalof 139 participants observed a presentation by a humanoid robot in a between-subject design and then completed a surprisedtest. They also evaluated general impressions of the robot based on a psychological scale which is developed for an evaluationof humanoids. Results: We found that both approaches are related to higher scores regarding the audience’s correct understanding of thepresentation, with higher psychological impressions given in relation to utility of the robot and the clearness of the voice of therobot. Additionally, we found that the behaviors toward a screen is more effective than the behaviors toward an audience in thiscase of the presentation by a humanoid robot. Conclusions: We concluded that both types of the nonverbal behaviors are important for the audience’s correct understandingand also the behaviors which emphasize the key points in the screen is crucial rather than the behaviors which keep the attentionsof the audience when a humanoid robot gives a presentation. Finally, we discuss the universality of the proposed model for usewith other humanoid robots.

Effect of human attributes and type of robots on psychological evaluation of humanoids

In this study, we investigate the effect of the attributes of humans, such as sex and age, on their psychological evaluation of humanoids. We used 11 humanoids in order to investigate the basic tendency of humans to evaluate humanoids. In addition, we included wheeled-walking robots, biped-walking robots, and androids in order to consider the influence of the type of humanoid. We collected data from 2,624 Japanese individuals, ranging from teenagers to people in their 70s, in three major cities in order to obtain maximally representative data. For our psychological scale, we used a humanoid-oriented scale that was developed on the basis of parameters for the evaluation of humanoids according to the perspectives of ordinary people. These parameters are familiarity, utility, and humanness. The results show that middle-aged and older females tend to rate the familiarity and humanness of all humanoids higher, adolescents tend to rate the familiarity and utility of wheeled-walking humanoids higher and the utility of androids lower, and middle-aged people tend to rate the utility of all humanoids higher. We discuss the improved design of humanoids considering both human characteristics and types of humanoids.