Field Experiments on the Effects of Multiple-Robot Expressions for Robot Influence in Recommendation Situations

Teleoperated social robots are becoming increasingly prevalent in society. To address the issue of their lack of influence, researchers have explored the use of multiple robots. Previous studies comprehensively investigated interactions with multiple robots, conducted web surveys, and revealed attributes that had positive, negative, and neutral effects on robot influence. In this study, we formulated hypotheses regarding multiple-robot expressions in the recommendation scenarios based on previous research findings and tested them through field experiments. We suggested that multiple-robot expressions with the attribute known as “Single-Sympathy,” which represents that robots have a single role conveying a single intention, enhance robot influence, and there may be positive effect attributes specific to the field experiment. Additionally, our results indicate that other than multiple-robot expressions, such as drawing the attention of passersby, are also important, and non-operating robots possibly affect the sales of recommended products, indicating the importance of designing interactions throughout the entire recommendation situation. Our study provides new insights into the designing of multiple-robot interactions.