Investigating the influence of culture on proxemic behaviors for humanoid robots

In social robotics, the behavior of humanoid robots is intended to be designed in a way that they behave in a human-like manner and serve as natural interaction partners for human users. Several aspects of human behavior such as speech, gestures, eye-gaze as well as the personal and social background of the user need therefore to be considered. In this paper, we investigate interpersonal distance as a behavioral aspect that varies with the cultural background of the user. We present two studies that explore whether users of different cultures (Arabs and Germans) expect robots to behave similar to their own cultural background. The results of the first study reveal that Arabs and Germans have different expectations on the interpersonal distance between themselves and robots in a static setting. In the second study, we use the results of the first study to investigate the users´ reactions on robots using the observed interpersonal distances themselves. Although the data of this dynamic setting is not conclusive, it suggests that users prefer robots that show behavior that has been observed for their own cultural background before.