Using video preferences to understand the human perception of real and fictional robots

Paper in proceeding, 2015

In this paper the nexus between fictional and real robots in Human Robot Interaction (HRI) is explored. We claim that design guidelines for HRI must not be borrowed from fiction blindly, as contradictions between the two may emerge with respect to what is desired by the human user. To understand human perception of robots appearing in movies we analyse viewing statistics and qualitative comments of a set of YouTube videos comprising of fictional and real robots. Analysis of the viewing statistics showed that real robots are more popular. Furthermore, analysis of the comments showed that two real robots (Nao and Shakey) generated significantly more positive comments and significantly more attributions of usage in human society as compared to the two fictional robots (AstroBoy and HAL9000). Based on the sample of robots considered in this research, our results reveal that contrary to expectation humans are more exposed to real robots and are more preferred, and we conclude by reasserting the contradiction that emerges between real and fictional robots.