Head Orientation Behavior of Users and Durations in Playful Open-Ended Interactions with an Android Robot

This paper presents the results of a field-experiment focused on the head orientation behavior of users in short-term dyadic interactions with an android (male) robot in a playful context, as well as on the duration of the interactions. The robotic trials took place in an art exhibition where participants approached the robot either in groups, or alone, and were let free to either engage, or not in conversation. Our initial hypothesis that participants in groups would show increased rates of head turning behavior-since the turn-taking activity would include more participants-in contrast to those who came alone was not confirmed. Analysis of the results indicated that, on the one hand, gender did not play any significant role in head orientation, a behavior connected tightly to attention direction, and on the other hand, female participants have spent significantly more time with the robot than male participants. The findings suggest that androids have the ability to maintain the focus of attention during short-term interactions within a playful context, and that robots can be sufficiently studied in art settings. This study provides an insight on how users communicate with an android robot, and on how to design meaningful human robot social interaction for real life situations.