Personality distortion in communication through teleoperated robots

Recent research has focused on such physical communication media as teleoperated robots, which provide a feeling of being with people in remote places. Recent invented media resemble cute animals or imaginary creatures that quickly attract attention. However, such appearances could distort tele-communications because they are different from human beings. This paper studies the effect on the speaker´s personality that is transmitted through physical media by regarding appearances as a function that transmits the speaker´s information. Although communication media´s capability to transmit information reportedly influences conversations in many aspects, the effect of appearances remains unclear. To reveal the effect of appearance, we compared three appearances of communication media: stuffed-bear teleoperated robot, human-like teleoperated robot, and video chat. Our results show that communication media whose appearance greatly differs from that of the speaker distorts the personality perceived by interlocutors. This paper suggests that the design of the appearance of physical communication media needs to be carefully selected.