The Persuasive Power of Social Robots

Posted by Franz

How to Manage Robots and People Working Together
June 2, 2015
By James E. Young
Assistant professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Manitoba
http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-manage-robots-and-people-working-together-1433301051
Humans almost inevitably will treat the machines as living things. So companies need to prepare for all sorts of social issues that might crop up.

In some sense, that isn’t surprising: Humans are hard-wired for social interaction with the world. We use emotions and personalities to describe the weather, or even how machines such as our car act.
Research has shown this tendency to be exceptionally strong with robots, as they autonomously move around people. It is not necessary for robots to look like a person; even a small disc robot moving around a factory floor, with intentions and goals of its own, quickly comes to be seen by the humans around it as a living thing. Even people who vehemently object to the idea of assigning emotions and personalities to robots start to do exactly that after minimal time.

Our team found that people interpret how a robot moves—fast, slow, soft or jerky motions, etc.—in emotional terms.

Be careful when robots give people commands and recommendations.
Our work has shown how robots can pressure people to do things they would rather not do.
While computers and machines regularly give us recommendations or directions, such as automatic emails or alerts when a task is due, the same direction from robots can have a much stronger impact given the social-interaction elements that come into play.

… Will people doubt themselves given robots’ advanced knowledge and sensor capability?

Companies should be aware of the persuasive power of directions when coming from a social robot

Develop a strategy for empathy toward robots. People feel bad when bad things happen to robots.
It is not surprising that most people are unhappy when expensive equipment breaks or malfunctions, but a growing body of research shows that people have empathy for robots when they are harmed, even something as simple as losing their memory.

There are reports from military situations, for example, where soldiers have demanded that their robots be repaired rather than replaced, or are hesitant to place their robots in danger.