Human-robot proxemics: Physical and psychological distancing in human-robot interaction

To seamlessly integrate into the human physical and social environment, robots must display appropriate proxemic behavior-that is, follow societal norms in establishing their physical and psychological distancing with people. Social-scientific theories suggest competing models of human proxemic behavior, but all conclude that individuals´ proxemic behavior is shaped by the proxemic behavior of others and the individual´s psychological closeness to them. The present study explores whether these models can also explain how people physically and psychologically distance themselves from robots and suggest guidelines for future design of proxemic behaviors for robots. In a controlled laboratory experiment, participants interacted with Wakamaru to perform two tasks that examined physical and psychological distancing of the participants. We manipulated the likeability (likeable/dislikeable) and gaze behavior (mutual gaze/averted gaze) of the robot. Our results on physical distancing showed that participants who disliked the robot compensated for the increase in the robot´s gaze by maintaining a greater physical distance from the robot, while participants who liked the robot did not differ in their distancing from the robot across gaze conditions. The results on psychological distancing suggest that those who disliked the robot also disclosed less to the robot. Our results offer guidelines for the design of appropriate proxemic behaviors for robots so as to facilitate effective human-robot interaction.