Robots Can Manipulate Human Attention Without Eyes or Facial Features
Researchers discovered that robots can direct where people look simply by turning their heads—even when their eyes are invisible. The finding reveals that humans instinctively treat robotic head movements as intentional social signals, opening new possibilities for how autonomous systems could guide worker attention, influence customer behavior, or assist people with disabilities.
Originaltitel: Robotic Gaze Drives Attention, Even with No Visible Eyes
<p>Robots can direct human attention using their eyes. However, it remains unclear whether it is the gaze or the low-level motion of the head rotation that drives attention. We isolated these components in a non-predictive gaze cueing task with a robot to explore how limited robotic signals orient attention. In each trial, the head of a NAO robot turned towards the left or right. To isolate the direction of rotation from its gaze, NAO was presented frontally and backward along blocks. Participants responded faster to targets on the gazed-at site, even when the eyes of the robot were not visible and the direction of rotation was opposed to that of the frontal condition. Our results showed that low-level motion did not orient attention, but the gaze direction of the robot did. These findings suggest that the robotic gaze is perceived as a social signal, similar to human gaze.</p>