Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect

Merle Reimann; Jesper van de Graaf; Nina van Gulik; Stephanie van de Sanden; Tibert Verhagen; Koen Hindriks

doi:10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4_4

Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect

Merle Reimann, Jesper van de Graaf, Nina van Gulik, Stephanie van de Sanden, Tibert Verhagen, Koen Hindriks^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

We designed a wine recommendation robot and deployed it in a small supermarket. In a study aimed to evaluate our design we found that people with no intent to buy wine were interacting with the robot rather than the intended audience of wine-buying customers. Behavioural data, moreover, suggests a very different evaluation of the robot than the surveys that were completed. We also found that groups were interacting more with the robot than individuals, a finding that has been reported more often in the literature. All of these findings taken together suggest that a novelty effect may have been at play. It also suggests that field studies should take this effect more seriously. The main contribution of our work is in identifying and proposing a set of indicators and thresholds that can be used to identify that a novelty effect is present. We argue that it is important to focus more on measuring attitudes towards robots that may explain behaviour due to novelty effects. Our findings also suggest research should focus more on verifying whether real user needs are met.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Social Robotics
Subtitle of host publication	15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part II
Editors	Abdulaziz Al Ali, John-John Cabibihan, Nader Meskin, Silvia Rossi, Wanyue Jiang, Hongsheng He, Shuzhi Sam Ge
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	38-48
Number of pages	11
Volume	2
ISBN (Print)	9789819987177
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4_4
Publication status	Published - 2024
Event	15th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2023 - Doha, Qatar Duration: 3 Dec 2023 → 7 Dec 2023

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	14454 LNAI
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	15th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2023
Country/Territory	Qatar
City	Doha
Period	3/12/23 → 7/12/23

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was (partially) funded by the Hybrid Intelligence Center, a 10-year programme funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, grant number 024.004.022, and the RAAK-mkb project De toegevoegde waarde van sociale robots voor mijn winkel funded by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd 2024.

Funding

This research was (partially) funded by the Hybrid Intelligence Center, a 10-year programme funded by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science through the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, grant number 024.004.022, and the RAAK-mkb project De toegevoegde waarde van sociale robots voor mijn winkel funded by the Taskforce for Applied Research SIA.

Funders	Funder number
Taskforce for Applied Research SIA
Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek	024.004.022

Keywords

Novelty effect indicators
Retail
Socially Assistive Robots

Access to Document

10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4_4

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Cite this

Reimann, M., van de Graaf, J., van Gulik, N., van de Sanden, S., Verhagen, T., & Hindriks, K. (2024). Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect. In A. A. Ali, J.-J. Cabibihan, N. Meskin, S. Rossi, W. Jiang, H. He, & S. S. Ge (Eds.), Social Robotics: 15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part II (Vol. 2, pp. 38-48). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 14454 LNAI). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4_4

Reimann, Merle ; van de Graaf, Jesper ; van Gulik, Nina et al. / Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect. Social Robotics: 15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part II. editor / Abdulaziz Al Ali ; John-John Cabibihan ; Nader Meskin ; Silvia Rossi ; Wanyue Jiang ; Hongsheng He ; Shuzhi Sam Ge. Vol. 2 Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024. pp. 38-48 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

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Reimann, M, van de Graaf, J, van Gulik, N, van de Sanden, S, Verhagen, T & Hindriks, K 2024, Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect. in AA Ali, J-J Cabibihan, N Meskin, S Rossi, W Jiang, H He & SS Ge (eds), Social Robotics: 15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part II. vol. 2, Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 14454 LNAI, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 38-48, 15th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, 3/12/23. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4_4

Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect. / Reimann, Merle; van de Graaf, Jesper; van Gulik, Nina et al.
Social Robotics: 15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part II. ed. / Abdulaziz Al Ali; John-John Cabibihan; Nader Meskin; Silvia Rossi; Wanyue Jiang; Hongsheng He; Shuzhi Sam Ge. Vol. 2 Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2024. p. 38-48 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 14454 LNAI).

Research output: Chapter in Book / Report / Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic › peer-review

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Reimann M, van de Graaf J, van Gulik N, van de Sanden S, Verhagen T, Hindriks K. Social Robots in the Wild and the Novelty Effect. In Ali AA, Cabibihan JJ, Meskin N, Rossi S, Jiang W, He H, Ge SS, editors, Social Robotics: 15th International Conference, ICSR 2023, Doha, Qatar, December 3–7, 2023, Proceedings, Part II. Vol. 2. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2024. p. 38-48. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). Epub 2023 Dec 3. doi: 10.1007/978-981-99-8718-4_4