Robotic Arm Perception: An Eyetracking Study Exploring Causal Relations and Perceived Trust

Abstract

With the increased integration of robots into industrial, service, and educational spaces, it is imperative to understand factors that influence human-robot interactions. While the existing literature has explored human perception of robot-produced verbal communication, there is a notable gap in understanding how adults process robot-produced nonverbal communication. Current research focuses on subjective measures of the individual’s perception of robots during interactions, but often fails to have objective measures or control groups in their designs which limits the conclusions that can be made. In this study, we aim to implement a design that allows for the comparison of robot and human nonverbal communication understanding and perceiving through both objective eye-tracking measures and subjective survey measures. This design should prove useful to gain insights into how people understand information provided by robots and humans when watching their nonverbal gestures, and their perceptions of the agents after their interactions.