“You Are Doing so Great!” – The Effect of a Robot’s Interaction Style on Self-Efficacy in HRI

Abstract

People form mental models about robots’ behavior and intention as they interact with them. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the effect of different interaction styles on self-efficacy in human-robot interaction (HRI), people’s perception of the robot, and task engagement. We conducted a user study in which a social robot assists people verbally while building a house of cards. Data from our experimental study revealed that people engaged longer in the task while interacting with a robot that provides person related feedback than with a robot that gives no person or task related feedback. Moreover, people interacting with a robot with a person-oriented interaction style reported a higher self-efficacy in HRI, perceived higher agreeableness of the robot and found the interaction less frustrating, as compared to a robot with a task-oriented interaction style. This suggests that a robot’s interaction style can be considered as a key factor for increasing people’s perceived self-efficacy in HRI, which is essential for establishing trust and enabling Human-robot collaboration.