The Effect of Performance Features of Telepresence Robots on the Personality Perception of Their Users

The Media Equation Hypothesis suggests that people attribute features of the medium to the content. In line with this hypothesis, in this work we investigate the effects of speed and shakiness of movement of a telepresence robot on the perception of the robot pilot's personality. To this end, we designed a between-subject study with three conditions. In the first condition, participants watched a video in which a telepresence robot was being driven at a speed of 1.5 km/h. In condition two, the robot moved with the same speed, but this time in a shaky manner. In the third condition, the robot was driven with double speed. 100 participants judged the robot pilot's personality in a questionnaire. The analysis of our data shows that the telepresence robot pilot is considered significantly more depressed, tense, shy, moody, and less self-confident when the robot is driven with low speed and more tense and irritable when it shakes while being driven. Therefore, the personality of the telepresence robot pilot is perceived differently depending on the speed or the quirkiness of the robot's movement, in line with the media equation hypothesis.