To Move or Not to Move? Social Acceptability of Robot Proxemics Behavior Depending on User Emotion

Various works show that proxemics occupies an important role in human-robot interaction and that appropriate proxemic interaction depends on many characteristics of humans and robots. However, there is none that shows the relationship between an emotional state expressed by a user and a proxemic reaction of the robot to it, in a social interaction between these interactants. In the current experiment (N = 82), we investigate this using an online study in which we examine which proxemic response (i.e., approaching, not moving, moving away) to a person’s expressed emotional state (i.e., anger, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness, joy) is perceived as appropriate. The quantitative and qualitative data collected suggests that the robot’s approach was considered appropriate for the expressed fear, sadness, and joy, whereas moving away was perceived as inappropriate in most scenarios. Further exploratory findings underline the importance of appropriate nonverbal behavior on the perception of the robot.