Persuasive robots should avoid authority: The effects of formal and real authority on persuasion in human-robot interaction

Social robots must take on many roles when interacting with people in everyday settings, some of which may be authoritative, such as a nurse, teacher, or guard. It is important to investigate whether and how authoritative robots can influence people in applications ranging from health care and education to security and in the home. Here, we present a human-robot interaction study that directly investigates the effect of a robot’s peer or …