Culturally Variable Preferences for Robot Design and Use in South Korea, Turkey, and the United States

Based on the results of an online survey conducted with participants in South Korea (N=73), Turkey (N=46), and the United States (N=99), we show that people’s perceptions and preferences regarding acceptable designs and uses for robots are culturally variable on a number of dimensions, including general attitudes towards robots, preferences for robot form, interactivity, intelligence, and sociality. We also explore correlations between these design and use characteristics and factors cited as having an effect on user perceptions and acceptance of robots, such as religious beliefs and media exposure. Our research suggests that culturally variable attitudes and preferences toward robots are not simply reducible to these factors, rather they relate to more specific social dynamics and norms. In conclusion, we discuss potential design and research implications of culturally variable and universally accepted user preferences regarding robots. Categories and Subject Descriptors H.1.2 [User/Machine Systems]: Human Factors; H.5.2 [UserCentered Design]; I.2.9 [Robotics]: Commercial robots and applications; K.4: Computers and Society General Terms Design, Human Factors

[1]  Jodi Forlizzi,et al.  All robots are not created equal: the design and perception of humanoid robot heads , 2002, DIS '02.

[2]  Danny Miller.  Personal, portable, pedestrian: Mobile phones in Japanese life. , 2006 .

[3]  Tatsuya Nomura,et al.  Cultural Differences in Attitudes Towards Robots , 2005 .

[4]  Pei-Luen Patrick Rau,et al.  When in Rome: The role of culture & context in adherence to robot recommendations , 2010, 2010 5th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[5]  Genevieve Bell,et al.  The age of the thumb: A cultural reading of mobile technologies from Asia , 2005, Thumb Culture.

[6]  Timothy N. Hornyak,et al.  Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots , 2006 .

[7]  Arthur D. Fisk,et al.  Attitudinal and Intentional Acceptance of Domestic Robots by Younger and Older Adults , 2009, HCI.

[8]  P. Hinds,et al.  When in Rome: the role of culture & context in adherence to robot recommendations , 2010, HRI 2010.

[9]  Joon-Yang Kim.  Critique of the New Historical Landscape of South Korean Animation , 2006 .

[10]  Karl F. MacDorman,et al.  Does Japan really have robot mania? Comparing attitudes by implicit and explicit measures , 2008, AI & SOCIETY.

[11]  Christoph Bartneck,et al.  Who like androids more: Japanese or US Americans? , 2008, RO-MAN 2008 - The 17th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication.

[12]  R. Geraci.  Spiritual robots: Religion and our scientific view of the natural world , 2006 .

[13]  Selma Sabanović,et al.  Inventing Japan’s ‘robotics culture’: The repeated assembly of science, technology, and culture in social robotics , 2014, Social studies of science.

[14]  Selma Sabanovic,et al.  Cultural design of domestic robots: A study of user expectations in Korea and the United States , 2012, 2012 IEEE RO-MAN: The 21st IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication.

[15]  Vanessa Evers,et al.  Relational vs. group self-construal: Untangling the role of national culture in HRI , 2008, 2008 3rd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[16]  Glenda Shaw-Garlock,et al.  Looking Forward to Sociable Robots , 2009, Int. J. Soc. Robotics.

[17]  Tatsuya Nomura,et al.  The influence of people’s culture and prior experiences with Aibo on their attitude towards robots , 2006, AI & SOCIETY.

[18]  Frédéric Kaplan,et al.  Who is Afraid of the Humanoid? Investigating Cultural Differences in the Acceptance of Robots , 2004, Int. J. Humanoid Robotics.

[19]  Lucy Suchman,et al.  Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions , 2006 .

[20]  Takanori Shibata,et al.  Cross-Cultural Studies on Subjective Evaluation of a Seal Robot , 2009, Adv. Robotics.

[21]  Cosima Wagner,et al.  ‘The Japanese way of robotics’: Interacting ‘naturally’ with robots as a national character? , 2009, RO-MAN 2009 - The 18th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication.

[22]  Jodi Forlizzi,et al.  The Snackbot: Documenting the design of a robot for long-term Human-Robot Interaction , 2009, 2009 4th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI).

[23]  Naho Kitano.  'Rinri': An Incitement towards the Existence of Robots in Japanese Soci- ety , 2005 .

[24]  J. H. Fujimura.  Postgenomic futures: translations across the machine-nature border in systems biology , 2005 .