EMAR creepiness research with Indian adolescents

Abstract

The uncanny valley has been well explored in robotics, however, this concept has not been explored in adolescents. Therefore the purpose of this study is to understand the concepts of creepiness and scariness in relation to social robots for adolescents. This study is a replica of a study conducted by Project EMAR in Seattle over the summer of 2020, to study the social and cultural differences in perceptions of creepiness in teenagers. We conducted 9 participatory, remote design sessions with a total of 13 adolescents. Activities included image gathering, group discussions and story boarding. Through these methods we gathered data regarding (1) perceptions of creepy existing technologies, (2) the distinction between creepy vs. scary technologies and (3) illustrations of creepy social robot interaction