Monitoring the Acceptance of a Social Service Robot in a Shopping Mall

Abstract

People tend to respond positively to social service robots in field trials in public places. Less is known how their perceptions and attitudes evolve if the same robot is presented frequently in the same service setting and the novelty effect wears off. We have carried out two first questionnaire surveys to start monitoring shopping mall customers' attitudes and acceptance of a social service robot in the mall for a longer term (three years). The first survey concerned the idea of a social service robot in the mall and the second the physical robot itself. Especially the results of the "With robot" survey indicates high acceptance of socially engaging service robots in a shopping mall.