AUTHOR=Plomin Jana , Schweidler Paul , Oehme Astrid 

TITLE=Virtual reality check: a comparison of virtual reality, screen-based, and real world settings as research methods for HRI

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Robotics and AI

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/robotics-and-ai/articles/10.3389/frobt.2023.1156715

DOI=10.3389/frobt.2023.1156715

ISSN=2296-9144

ABSTRACT=To reduce costs and effort, experiments in human-robot interaction can be carried out in Virtual13
Reality (VR) or in screen-based (SB) formats. However, it is not well examined whether robots are14
perceived and experienced in the same way in VR and SB as they are in the physical world. This15
study addresses this topic in a between-subjects experiment, measuring trust and engagement of an16
interaction with a mobile service robot in a museum scenario. Measures were made in three different17
settings, either the real world, in VR or in a game-like SB and then compared with an ANOVA. The18
results indicate, that neither trust nor engagement differ dependent on the experimental setting. The19
results imply that both VR and SB are eligible ways to explore the interaction with a mobile service20
robot, if some peculiarities of each medium are taken into account.