The Effects of a Robot Instructor’s Positive vs. Negative Feedbacks on Attraction and Acceptance towards the Robot in Classroom

As robots are now being widely used as educational aids and assistants, it is crucial to understand the effects of robotic teaching assistants in classroom and how attraction and acceptance towards the robot are shaped. A 2 (type of instructor: human vs. robot) x 3 (feedback style: positive vs. negative vs. neutral) between-subjects experiment with six conditions was conducted to examine the effects of a robot instructor in classroom and the instructor’s feedbacks on students’ attraction and acceptance towards the given feedback. Results showed that feedback from a human instructor were more acceptable than feedback from a robot instructor. Students in the robot-instructor condition showed greater attraction towards the instructor when received a positive feedback, whereas students in the human-instructor condition did not report any difference in their attraction towards the instructor due to the feedback style. Both implications and limitations of the present study as well as guidelines for future research are discussed.