Do You Have to Look Like a Human to Be Smart? An Exploratory Study of the Influence of Anatomy and Expressivity of Domestic Robots

The 500 000 accident-free kilometers travelled by the Google Car is a dramatic example of the future place of domestic robots in everyday life (Rijsdijk and Hultink, 2003). Because of their ability to behave autonomously, to interact like human and to communicate with their environment, domestic robots occupy an undefined space between objects and human beings. This raises unprecedented questions for researchers and managers alike (Rijsdijk, Hultink, and Diamantopoulos 2007). One specific concern is the impact of the anthropomorphic appearance of domestic robots on consumer adoption. In one study, this research shows that anthropomorphism does not favor the adoption of domestic robots.