Effects of Physical Embodiment on Social Presence of Social Robots

Two experiments were conducted to investigate the relative effectiveness of physical embodiment on social presence of social robots. The results of Experiment 1 show positive effects of physical embodiment of social robots (PESR) in the feeling of social presence, the general evaluation of social robots, the assessment of public opinion of social robots, and the evaluation of interaction with social robots. The result of a path analysis also provides the evidence of the mediating effect of social presence in people’s general evaluation of social robots. However, the results of Experiment 2 show that PESR without touch-input capability causes negative effects. Implications for the relative effectiveness of PESR, the importance of tactile communication in human-robot interaction, as well as the market potential for social robots in relation to loneliness are discussed. Keywords---Physical embodiment, touch, humanrobot interaction, companionship, social robots, tactile communication.