Attention distribution and decision-making in the process of robot’s appearance design and selection

Abstract

Humanoid robots gaining popularity in the service industry all over the world. When designing humanoid robots, product designers put additional thought into the aesthetic design to avoid the complications that arise from the “uncanny valley”. It has long been found that genders, personalities, and cultural upbringings may affect individual ratings on the appearance of humanoid robots. To better aid and hasten the appearance design and selection process, this report explores the use of Electroencephalography (EEG) and vision tracking devices to evaluate preferences based on “aesthetic” criteria of robot designs. Based on the analysis, it was found that individuals, regardless of the three traits, paid more attention to their top choices during the selection. In rating the robots’ appearance, it was also found that Eastern students rated a significantly higher score of “intelligence” than Western students. However, both eastern and western students have a similar choice of their favorite robots.