How people perceive different robot types: A direct comparison of an android, humanoid, and non-biomimetic robot

During first encounters and short-term interaction with robots, the robot's appearance and initial behavior plays a major role. In this paper we compare the outcome of three human-robot interaction studies using three different robot types in two different countries, Japan and Australia. The participants' perception of an android robot, a humanoid robot and a non-biomimetic robot are compared before and after interacting with the robots. The experimental results show significant differences in the way people perceive the robots based on appearance alone, and based on appearance and behavior after a short interaction.