Can differences of nationalities be induced and measured by robot gesture communication ?

For communication between a human user and a robot, differences in nationality, culture and language of the user should be considered; however, it has not been treated in existing studies of communication robots yet. In this study, a preliminary experiment using the communication robot “ApriPoco” and the near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was performed to confirm whether differences given by robot's motion induced different response in the user depending on nationalities and whether such difference could be measured. Brain activity in the cortex area associated with a mirror neuron was investigated for Japanese and Chinese participants during watching greetings of the robot that mimicked gestures in different country's styles. As a result, difference in the brain activities in two nationalities was found: activation in a primary motor area for the Japanese participant changed greatly when the participants watched the robot gesture with language of the mother country and the native greetings style, but similar tendency was not found for Chinese one.