Skip to main content

Effects of Observing Eye Contact between a Robot and Another Person

International Journal of Social Robotics volume 3, pages 143–154 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Being accepted by humans is one of the common requirements for a communication robot. Previous work has examined the effects of non-verbal factors on people’s perceptions of robots for such a purpose, but always with a focus on dyadic human-robot interaction; in real human society, however, triadic interaction also plays an important role and should be considered. This paper explores a potential merit offered by the latter form of interaction: specifically, how one form of non-verbal interaction occurring between a robot and humans, eye contact, can be utilized to make the robot appear more acceptable to humans. Experiments were conducted with groups of two humans and an android, in which one of the humans, the “subject”, was asked to communicate with a second person who had knowledge of the purpose of the experiment, the “confederate”; the confederate’s role was to gaze in such a way that the subject either observed or did not observe eye contact between the confederate and the android. A post-interaction questionnaire revealed that subjects’ impressions toward the robot were influenced by eye contact between the confederate and robot. Finally, the consistency of the experimental results was discussed in terms of Heider’s balance theory, and future extensions of this research were proposed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

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

References

  1. Takano E, Matsumoto Y, Nakamura Y, Ishiguro H, Sugamoto K (2008) The psychological effects of attendance of an android on communication. In: 11th international symposium on experimental robotics

  2. Heider F (1958) The psychology of interpersonal relations. Wiley, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Sakamoto D, Ono T (2006) Sociality of robots: do robots construct or collapse human relations? In: Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGCHI/SIGART conference on human-robot interaction, pp 355–356

  4. Bailenson JN, Yee N (2005) Digital chameleons—automatic assimilation of nonverbal gestures in immersive virtual environments. Psychol Sci 16:814–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Robins B, Dickerson P, Stribling P, Dautenhahn K (2004) Robot-mediated joint attention in children with autism. Interact Stud 5:161–198

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Imai M, Ono T (2004) Development and evaluation of interactive humanoid robots. In: Proceedings of IEEE, vol 92, pp 1839–1850

  7. Bailenson JN, Yee N (2005) Digital chameleons: automatic assimilation of nonverbal gestures in immersive virtual environments. Psychol Sci 16:814–819

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Yamaoka F, Kanda T, Ishiguro H, Hagita N (2006) In: Proceedings of ACM 1st annual conference on human-robot interaction, pp 313–320

  9. Yoshikawa Y, Shinozawa K, Ishiguro H, Hagita N, Miyamoto T (2006) In: Proceedings of robotics: science and systems II

  10. Melzoff AN (1995) Understanding the intentions of others: re-enactment of intended acts by 18-month-old children. Dev Psychol 31:838–850

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Goetz J, Kiseler S, Powers A (2003) In: The 12th IEEE international workshop on robot and human interactive communication

  12. Shimada M, Minato T, Itakura S, Ishiguro H (2006) In: Proceedings of the 6th IEEE-RAS international conference on humanoid

  13. Yoshikawa Y, Shinozawa K, Ishiguro H (2007) In: Proceedings of the 29th annual conference of the cognitive science society, pp 725–730

  14. Yuichiro Y, Yamamoto S, Hidenobu S, Hiroshi I, Minoru A (2008) In: Proceedings of the ACM/IEEE international conference on human-robot interaction, pp 319–326

  15. Siegman AW (1976) Do noncontingent interviewer mm-hmms facilitate interviewee productivity? J Consult Clin Psychol 44:171–182

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Breed GR (1972) The effect of intimacy: reciprocity or rates. Br J Soc Clin Psychol 11:17–46

    Google Scholar 

  17. Minato T, Shimada M, Ishiguro H, Itakura S (2004) Development of an android robot for studying human-robot interaction. In: 17th international conference on industrial and engineering applications of artificial intelligence and expert systems, pp 424–434

  18. Hayashi K, Sakamoto D, Kanda T, Shiomi M, Koizumi S, Ishiguro H, Ogasawara T, Hagita N (2007) Humanoid robots as passive-social medium—a field experiment at train station. In: ACM/IEEE 2nd annual conference on human-robot interaction, pp 137–144

  19. McCarthy A, Lee K, Muir D (2001) Eye gaze displays that index knowing, thinking, and guessing. In: The annual conference of the American psychological society

  20. Frintrop S, Konigs A, Hoeller F, Schulz D (2010) A component-based approach to visual person tracking from a mobile platform. Int J Soc Robot 2(1):53–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Jung B, Sukhatme GS (2010) Real-time motion tracking from a mobile robot. Int J Soc Robot 2(1):63–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Adaptive Machine Systems, Faculty of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Michihiro Shimada

  2. Asada Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yuichiro Yoshikawa

  3. Dept. of Clothing Environmental Science, Faculty of Human Life and Environment, Nara Women’s University, Kitauoyahigashi-machi, Nara, Nara, 630-8506, Japan

    Mana Asada & Naoki Saiwaki

  4. Asada Project, ERATO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, 2-1 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Hiroshi Ishiguro

Authors
  1. Michihiro Shimada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yuichiro Yoshikawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mana Asada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Naoki Saiwaki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hiroshi Ishiguro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michihiro Shimada.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shimada, M., Yoshikawa, Y., Asada, M. et al. Effects of Observing Eye Contact between a Robot and Another Person. Int J of Soc Robotics 3, 143–154 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-010-0072-9

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-010-0072-9

Keywords

  • Person’s perception
  • Triadic interaction
  • Eye-contact
  • Android
  • Heider’s balance theory