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Artifact-inspired social robots:
An alternative to robot cuteness for domestic robotics (ACUTE)

About ACUTE


The physical design of social robots plays a significant role in how they are perceived, as well as which social and emotional abilities are attributed to them. Robots today are often designed with a childlike and cute appearance, as existing research has shown that this can evoke strong emotional reactions in users and help to make the robots appear more friendly and trustworthy. The challenge with this design choice is that such robots, through their physical form, are often attributed unintended and undesirable human social and emotional traits. Additionally, the childlike appearance can be perceived as patronising, which may lead to the robot not being accepted in the home. When designing social robots for the future, it is important that their design provides an appropriate level of information about the robot's possibility for social coordination, without the user necessarily attributing human characteristics to the design. The goal of the ACUTE project is to explore precisely this balancing act between sociality and the robot’s form. The project will investigate a new visual category of social robots for the home, inspired by the objects we surround ourselves with daily, rather than imitating living beings or machines, thereby generating new knowledge about how we as humans understand and decode social traits in robots.

Timeline and funding


Project timeline: 01/06/2025 → 31/05/2027

Project funding: Independent Research Fund Denmark