Perception of Humanoid Social Mediator in Two-Person Dialogs

In this work we present a humanoid robot (Nao) that provides real-time sociofeedback to participants taking part in two-person dialogs. The sociofeedback system quantifies speech mannerism and social behavior of participants in an ongoing conversation, determines whether feedback is required, and delivers feedback through Nao. For example, Nao alarms the speaker(s) when the voice is too high or too low, or when the conversation is not proceeding well due to disagreements or numerous interruptions. In this study, participants are asked to engage in two-person conversations while the Nao robot acts as mediator. They then assess the received sociofeedback with respect to various aspects, including its content, appropriateness, and timing. Participants also evaluate their overall perception of Nao as social mediator via the Godspeed questionnaire.