Movement synchronization fails during non-adaptive human-robot interaction

Interpersonal movement synchronization is a phenomenon that does not only increase the predictability of movements; it also increases rapport among people. In this line, synchronization might enhance human-robot interaction. An experiment is presented which explores to what extend a human synchronizes own movements to a non-adaptive robot during a repetitive tapping task. It is shown that the human does not take over the complete effort of movement adaptation to reach synchronization, which indicates the need for adaptive robots.