Service robots in crowded environments: How crowd dynamics shape robotic adoption intention at events

Service robots tackle labor shortages and improve customer experiences. While research has examined factors affecting robotic adoption, the impact of social crowdedness remains unexplored. Through a multi-experimental design, this study adopts a dual-role perspective to investigate how social crowdedness interacts with prominent robot-related factors (i.e., conversation initiation and personality), as a predictor and a moderator, in influencing robotic adoption intention in event settings. Key findings show that attendees are less willing to adopt robots in crowded settings, unless the robot initiates interaction, which are perceived as more intelligent and socially adept. The interaction between robot personality and social crowdedness reveals the contextual role of crowdedness in human-robot interactions, with social interactivity and perceived intelligence mediating the relationship. This study fills a critical gap in service robot literature by examining how social crowdedness influences human-robot interactions and intersects with key aspects of robot design. It also offers practical guidance for event organizers, suggesting collaboration with service partners to program robots for proactivity, personality, and crowdedness dependent.