Effects related to synchrony and repertoire in perceptions of robot dance

In this work we identify low-level aspects of robot motion that can be exploited to create impressions of agency and lifelikeness. In two experiments, participants view split-screen videos of multiple robots set to music and rate the robots on their dance ability, lifelikeness, and entertainment value. The first experiment tests the impact of the correspondence (or lack thereof) of the robot's motion to the underlying rhythm of the music, and the effect of matching changes in the robot's movement to changes in the music, such as a phrase of vocals or drumming. This motivates a second experiment which more deeply explores the relationships of asynchrony and changes in motion repertoire to participants' perceptions of the lifelikeness of the robot's motion. Findings indicate that perceptions of the lifelikeness of the robot and the quality of the dance can be manipulated by simple changes, such as variation in the repertoire of motions, coordination of changes in behavior with events in the music, and the addition of flaws to the robot's synchrony with the music.