“See You Later, Alligator”: Impacts of Robot Small Talk on Task, Rapport, and Interaction Dynamics in Human-Robot Collaboration

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00216208%3A11320%2F26%3AGH7445RM" target="_blank" >RIV/00216208:11320/26:GH7445RM - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10973942/" target="_blank" >https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10973942/</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/HRI61500.2025.10973942" target="_blank" >10.1109/HRI61500.2025.10973942</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

“See You Later, Alligator”: Impacts of Robot Small Talk on Task, Rapport, and Interaction Dynamics in Human-Robot Collaboration

Original language description

Small talk can foster rapport building in human-human teamwork; yet how non-anthropomorphic robots, such as collaborative manipulators commonly used in industry, may capitalize on these social communications remains unclear. This work investigates how robot-initiated small talk influences task performance, rapport, and interaction dynamics in human-robot collaboration. We developed an autonomous robot system that assists a human in an assembly task while initiating and engaging in small talk. A user study (N=58) was conducted in which participants worked with either a functional robot, which engaged in only task-oriented speech, or a social robot, which also initiated small talk. Our study found that participants in the social condition reported significantly higher levels of rapport with the robot. Moreover, all participants in the social condition responded to the robot's small talk attempts; 59% initiated questions to the robot, and 73% engaged in lingering conversations after requesting the final task item. Although active working times were similar across conditions, participants in the social condition recorded longer task durations than those in the functional condition. We discuss the design and implications of robot small talk in shaping human-robot collaboration.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

D - Article in proceedings

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

10201 - Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8)

Project

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Continuities

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Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Article name in the collection

2025 20th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)

ISBN

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ISSN

2167-2148

e-ISSN

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Number of pages

10

Pages from-to

819-828

Publisher name

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Place of publication

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Event location

Melbourne, Australia

Event date

Jan 1, 2026

Type of event by nationality

WRD - Celosvětová akce

UT code for WoS article

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