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1. Dog Sit! Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris) Follow a Robot's Sit Commands

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3371382.3380734  

   Qin, Meiying; Huang, Yiyun; Stumph, Ellen; Santos, Laurie; Scassellati, Brian (March 2020, ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction)

   As personal social robots become more prevalent, the need for the designs of these systems to explicitly consider pets become more apparent. However, it is not known whether dogs would interact with a social robot. In two experiments, we investigate whether dogs respond to a social robot after the robot called their names, and whether dogs follow the ‘sit’ commands given by the robot. We conducted a between-subjects study (n = 34) to compare dogs’ reactions to a social robot with a loudspeaker. Results indicate that dogs gazed at the robot more often after the robot called their names than after the loudspeaker called their names. Dogs followed the ‘sit’ commands more often given by the robot than given by the loudspeaker. The contribution of this study is that it is the first study to provide preliminary evidence that 1) dogs showed positive behaviors to social robots and that 2) social robots could influence dog’s behaviors. This study enhance the understanding of the nature of the social interactions between humans and social robots from the evolutionary approach. Possible explanations for the observed behavior might point toward dogs perceiving robots as agents, the embodiment of the robot creating pressure for socialized responses, or the multimodal (i.e., verbal and visual) cues provided by the robot being more attractive than our control condition. 

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2. RoSI: A Model for Predicting Robot Social Influence

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3641515  

   Erel, Hadas; Vázquez, Marynel; Sebo, Sarah; Salomons, Nicole; Gillet, Sarah; Scassellati, Brian (February 2024, ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction)

   A wide range of studies in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) has shown that robots can influence the social behavior of humans. This phenomenon is commonly explained by the Media Equation. Fundamental to this theory is the idea that when faced with technology (like robots), people perceive it as a social agent with thoughts and intentions similar to those of humans. This perception guides the interaction with the technology and its predicted impact. However, HRI studies have also reported examples in which the Media Equation has been violated, that is when people treat the influence of robots differently from the influence of humans. To address this gap, we propose a model of Robot Social Influence (RoSI) with two contributing factors. The first factor is a robot’s violation of a person’s expectations, whether the robot exceeds expectations or fails to meet expectations. The second factor is a person’s social belonging with the robot, whether the person belongs to the same group as the robot or a different group. These factors are primary predictors of robots’ social influence and commonly mediate the influence of other factors. We review HRI literature and show how RoSI can explain robots’ social influence in concrete HRI scenarios. 

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3. Not in my house!: Children Playing an Online Game with Robots Show Low Trust and Closeness with Ingroup Robots

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3434074.3447204  

   Rheman, Jennifer; Fraune, Marlena R. (March 2021, Not in my house!: Children Playing an Online Game with Robots Show Low Trust and Closeness with Ingroup Robots.)

   null (Ed.)

   This paper presents preliminary research on whether children will accept a robot as part of their ingroup, and on how a robot's group membership affects trust, closeness, and social support. Trust is important in human-robot interactions because it affects if people will follow robots' advice. In this study, we randomly assigned 11- and 12-year-old participants to a condition such that participants were either on a team with the robot (ingroup) or were opponents of the robot (outgroup) for an online game. Thus far, we have eight participants in the ingroup condition. Our preliminary results showed that children had a low level of trust, closeness, and social support with the robot. Participants had a much more negative response than we anticipated. We speculate that there will be a more positive response with an in-person setting rather than a remote one. 

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4. You're Wigging Me Out!: Is Personalization of Telepresence Robots Strictly Positive?

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3434073.3444675  

   Fitter, Naomi T.; Strait, Megan; Bisbee, Eloise; Mataric, Maja J.; Takayama, Leila (March 2021, HRI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction)

   With their ability to embody users in physically distant spaces, telepresence robots have gained popularity in environments including hospitals, schools, and offices. However, with platforms lacking in individuation and social presence, users often personalize telepresence robots with clothing and accessories to increase their recognizability and sense of embodiment. Toward understanding personalization preferences, as well as perceptions of personalized platforms, we conducted a series of five studies that investigate patterns in personalization of a telepresence robot and evaluate the impacts of common personalizations along five dimensions (robot uniqueness, humanness, pleasantness/unpleasantness, and people's willingness to interact with it). Finding a strong preference for the use of clothing and headwear in Studies 1-2 (N=52), we systematically manipulated a robot's appearance using these items and evaluated the qualitative and quantitative impacts on observer perceptions in Studies 3-4 (N=160). Observing that personalization increased perceptions of uniqueness and humanness, but also decreased positive responding, we then investigated the associations between personalization preferences and perceptions via a fifth study (N=100). Across the five studies, tensions emerged between operators' interest in using wigs and interlocutors' dislike of wigs. This result highlights a need to consider both operator and interlocutor perspectives when personalizing telepresence robots. 

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5. Customizing Robot Personality: How Personality Control and Form Factor Shape Perceptions of a Robot as a Social Agent

   https://doi.org/10.1145/3757279.3785543  

   Zhang, Alex Wuqi; Huang, Aaron; Li, Allison J; Sebo, Sarah (March 2026, ACM)

   A robot's personality can shape user experience and acceptance in many social robot applications. Allowing users to customize robot personality could help them tailor robot products to their preferences, but it remains unclear whether this customization diminishes perceptions of the robot as a social agent and whether robot form factor influences these effects. We conducted a 2x2 between-subjects study (N = 79) examining robot form factor (humanoid NAO vs. non-humanoid TurtleBot) and personality customizability (customizable vs. non-customizable) during a collaborative event-planning task. Our results reveal that while customization reduced perceived social agency for both robot types, this reduction was particularly evident for humanoid robots. Conversely, personality customization significantly improved human-robot rapport, with this improvement driven primarily by non-humanoid robots. These findings reveal form factor-dependent effects in personality customization, indicating that robot form and customization capabilities yield differential impacts on perceived social agency and human-robot rapport in human-robot interaction design. 

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