The article discusses personal space, termed "comfort distance," in human-robot interactions. Research shows that people generally feel more at ease with human avatars than humanoid robots, with a noted preference for female avatars over males. The intricacies of personal space extend to robots, prompting studies on how comfort levels shift based on the robot's perceived attributes such as gender or emotional capacity, revealing insights into how emerging technologies influence social behavior.
In psychology, comfort distance refers to the radius around us that we like to keep free from intrusion, so we can feel relaxed and unthreatened.
Researchers are now investigating how human comfort zones might shift-or stay the same-when a robot enters the picture.
Participants were more comfortable around female human avatars than males, but that effect faded with robots.
This concept has roots in classic studies of human interpersonal space-imagine pressing into a packed elevator or standing in a long checkout line.
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