Shaking Hands and Cooperation in Tele-present Human-Robot Negotiation

A 3 × 2 between subjects design examined the effect of shaking hands prior to engaging in a single issue distributive negotiation, where one negotiator performed their role telepresently through a `Nao' humanoid robot. An additional third condition of handshaking with feedback examined the effect of augmenting the tele-present handshake with haptic and tactile feedback for the non telepresent and tele-present negotiators respectively. Results showed that the shaking of hands prior to negotiating resulted in increased cooperation between negotiators, reflected by economic outcomes that were more mutually beneficial. Despite the fact that the non tele-present negotiator could not see the real face of their counterpart, tele-presence did not affect the degree to which negotiators considered one another to be trustworthy, nor did it affect the degree to which negotiators self-reported as intentionally misleading one another. Negotiators in the more powerful role of buyer rated their impressions of their counterpart more positively, but only if they themselves conducted their negotiations telepresently. Results are discussed in terms of their design implications for social tele-presence robotics.