Face on a Globe: A Spherical Robot that Appears Lifelike Through Smooth Deformations and Autonomous Movement

In this paper, we provide insights into a design approach for non-anthropomorphic robots. The diversity of robot design methods is becoming increasingly important. As the applications of robots become more diverse, how these robots interact with humans is also changing. Focusing specifically on non-anthropomorphic robot designs, we created a spherical robot called "Face on a Globe." This robot uses a novel and innovative mechanism to smoothly deform and reveal a flat surface that represents an abstract face. We used this mechanism to switch between a pure sphere and a lifelike robot. In the first two studies, we investigated the factors related to the impression of the robot as being "lifelike". The third study added an autonomous motion that turned the robot's plane to face the direction of a sound. We compared the lifelike impression of this robot with previous iterations. Results demonstrated that the motion gave our robot a stronger lifelike impression. Moreover, we found that even though the lifelike impression of our robot increased with autonomous movements, the contrasting impression of the robot as being "artificial" remained high. Finally, we discuss the possibility of a robot that switches between two forms using a smooth deformation mechanism.