The Influence of Robot Descriptions and Distraction on Proxemics Between Humans and Robots in Virtual Reality

Proxemics, a key aspect of human-robot interaction, explores acceptable distances between humans and robots, which can vary depending on various factors. This study (n = 64) investigates the effects of negative attitudes and varying degrees of distraction on human interaction with a delivery robot in a virtual reality (VR) setting. Participants were divided into two groups exposed to video descriptions aimed at influencing their attitudes toward robots positively or negatively, or to a baseline group without an intervention. The experiment followed a $3\times 4$ mixed-design methodology with three groups (positive, negative, and baseline) and four distraction conditions: none, cognitive, visual, and combined. Participants’ acceptable distances, subjective discomfort, and perceived safety were measured. The results did not show significant differences in attitudes, distances, or discomfort between the three description groups, suggesting that the videos did not effectively alter attitudes. However, the baseline group reported significantly lower feelings of safety. Participants with high negative attitudes before the experiment showed a significant reduction in negativity regardless of group assignment, indicating that these individuals’ attitude benefited from the exposure. These individuals also maintained significantly greater distances and evaluated the interaction with the robot as less safe. Further analysis revealed a negative correlation between perceived robot weight and safety, with both video groups estimating the robot’s weight higher than the baseline group. Simultaneous distractions caused the highest discomfort, while no distraction resulted in the lowest. These findings highlight the importance of considering distraction, potential attitudes, and perceived threat when designing robot behavior for safe and satisfactory interactions.