Exploring the Natural Reaction of Young and Aged Person with Telenoid in a Real World

This paper describes two field tests conducted with visitors to shopping mall and with aged persons. For both of the field tests, we used an android we developed which is called “Telenoid R1” or ‘Telenoid” for short. For both field tests we interviewed visitors regarding their impressions of the Telenoid. The results of the shopping mall showed that almost half of the interviewed visitors reported having negative feelings toward the Telenoid. But once they gave the Telenoid a hug, they changed their opinions from negative to positive. Meanwhile, the results of the other test showed that the majority of aged persons reported having a positive opinion. As a remarkable point, all aged persons who interacted with the Telenoid gave it a hug without any specific instruction from us. These results show that the Telenoid must be an acceptable medium for the elderly. However, the Telenoid might also be acceptable for younger persons because the visitors we interviewed developed positive feelings toward the robot after giving it a hug. These results inform our future research working with and developing androids.