Digital Emotion : How Audiences React to Robots on Screen

Computer Applications: An International Journal (CAIJ), Vol.5, No.1, February 2018
DOI:10.5121/caij.2018.5101 1
DIGITAL EMOTION:
HOW AUDIENCES REACT TO ROBOTS ON SCREEN
Damian Schofield
Department of Computer Science, State University of New York, Oswego, NY, USA
ABSTRACT
The experience of interacting with robots is becoming a more pervasive part of our day-to-day life. When
considering the experience of interacting with other technologies and artefacts, interaction with robots
presents a distinct and potentially unique component: physical connection. Robots share our physical
space; this is a prominent part of the interaction experience. Robots offer a lifelike presence and the
Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) issues go beyond the traditional interactions of more passive technologies
and artefacts. The attention paid to HRI has grown dramatically as robotic systems have become more
capable and as human contact with those systems has become more commonplace [1].
Immediately recognizable, culturally ubiquitous, androids, cyborgs, and robots, need no introduction. Yet
their very familiarity obscures their participation in culture and media, and our perennial fascination with
such artificial humans when seen on the screen. While robots are growing more capable of many tasks,
people are often hesitant at introducing technology into older, more traditional art forms. However, robots
of varying kinds are appearing with increasing frequency in all manner of cinematic productions [2].
Robots and artificial humans have been a staple of our sci-fi screen experiences, however, unlike previous
technology such as smartphones or laptops, robots are currently being given more character roles in films.
Therefore, like animated characters, audiences are beginning to anthropomorphize and have emotional
experiences with the robot characters.
This paper attempts to unpack how humans see these artificial humans and how we interpret their
representation in cinema through a discussion of the use of ‘physical’ robots as a natural next stage of
cinema performance and drama. The paper presents and experiment involving cyborg performances in a
series of short films. In this study, participants attended a screening where they viewed these films, and
their responses to, and feelings about, the films were measured. It was hypothesized that film audiences
have become comfortable with seeing robots in sci-fi films over the years. Therefore, it is expected that
current and future audiences will begin to give these robot characters human attributes such as gender.
KEYWORDS
Robot, Human Robot Interaction, Cinema, representation, Appearance
1. INTRODUCTION
An artificial consciousness permeates globalized societies; technology is all around us, in science,
in science fiction, in daily life. This relationship continues to be processual, technologies continue
to move forward, assisting or, perhaps, encroaching on the human body. In modern society, we
are increasingly becoming merged with the technology around us, wearing it and implanting it.
This allows us to contemplate the merging of the organic and the inorganic. Bodies are being
remapped by technology and rigid notions of subjectivity are reconfigured and societal norms are
disrupted and shifted. Questions and issues regarding ability, identity, and a struggle for
embedded agency in relation to technologies are principal concerns of the late twentieth and early

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twenty-first centuries [3]. Humans are bombarded by visual media and one often feels as if there
is a fundamental invasion of body integrity [4].
This paper discusses media which has been designed to push the boundaries of what is
traditionally described as film; providing a sterile environment where machines perform on a
screen, robots reciting lines. Film is often defined as a form of literature which incorporates
acting and stagecraft elements combined with a narrative script. The effectiveness of the film
medium (which when conducted may be considered a play or drama, according to actual type) is
based on the delivery of text through the actors and how the audience observing the performance
responds. The introduction of robot thespians has the potential to create a form of cyborg cinema
that challenges and re-examines the ‘sensually different atmosphere’ of cinema that we are used
to [5].
Cinema is often described as a cultural construct and the ‘liveness’ and ‘realism’ debate is well
documented [6,7,8,9]. Introducing robots as actors can be seen as removing the human agency
which in turn can undermine the idea that performance is a specifically human activity and it may
cast into doubt the existential significance attributed to performance. Auslander [10,11] claims
that the concept of the ‘live’ emerges only as a result of mediatization and ‘live’ is, in the
contemporary moment of globalized technology, already to some extent mediatized.
Morse [12] makes a case for machine subjects (such as the television or computer screen) and the
cyberized machine-human interactions that increasingly take on the ‘I’ and ‘you’ of subjective
construction (we talk to the television, to our phones etc). Socially constructed and based on what
she calls virtualities the embodied, intelligent machine emerges as a partner in discourse.
A number of commentators have also noted that there have been noticeable changes in the styles
of acting seen in film in recent years. Many mention a move towards a more mechanic, flattened,
and intentionally ‘non-acting’ style, as humans sit alongside the technological on the screen
[3,13]. The introduction of new forms of technology into cinema has challenged many notions of
existing theory and practice and form complex alternatives. The introduction of robot thespians
also highlights the fixed notions of what being human means in our modern world relative to the
embodied and pervasive technologies that surround us.
However one sees the use of technology in cinema, there is no doubt that the cinema of the late
twentieth and into the twenty-first centuries has been shaped by cultural processes. As the
representational, visible bodies on the screen merge into the technology, Phelan proposes a new
‘inclusive representational framework’ - suggesting that the technology may efface their
‘representational visibility’ but in the process they are re-marked as something new, entering a
cyborg sensitivity [14].
The concept of robot cinema raises a number of questions regarding the representation of the
human body on the screen, providing an innovative site for exploring and experimenting with
these ideas. If robot cinema is to progress, and to be used to help understand the impact of
technology on human bodies, then the complex relationships between physical spaces, human
bodies and technology needs to be examined. Removing humans from a film perhaps moves us
closer to an understanding of a post-human condition [15]. A new, radically inclusive notion of
‘universal subject’ becomes necessary and a new critical language and way of thinking about film
and performance becomes necessary.
Technology itself, can call the materiality of the body into question. Human bodies are
increasingly abstracted, abjected, objectified through distance, media, commodification and
technology [3]. A number of academics and researchers have asked if we should we lament the
loss of the organic body [16]. In reality, technology development is often led by technological

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determinism, which feels that human bodies can naturally co-exist with technology as long as
humans remain in control.
This paper considers the relationship between 21st
century research in robotics and the fantasy of
the ideal robot, as this fantasy was honed in fictions, plays, and films of the twentieth century. It
can be seen that that new versions of the artificial person in science fiction literature and film
cannot escape many of the representational patterns of older texts. Cinema containing artificial
people often returns to the same tropes and plotlines decade after decade [17].
If cyborg cinema is to be created and to develop then the complex issues between physical spaces,
human bodies and technology needs to be discussed. This paper sets out to:
• Help understand the impact of technology on human bodies, and examine the notion of what
being human means in our modern world relative to the embodied and pervasive technologies
that surround us.
• Discuss media which has been designed to push the boundaries of what is traditionally
described as film.
• Consider the relationship between 21st
century research in robotics and the fantasy of the ideal
robot, as this fantasy was honed in fictions, plays, and films of the twentieth century.
• Raise a number of questions regarding the representation of the human body on the screen
and to rehash and rethink the cyborg stereotypes seen in cinema.
2.DEFINING ARTIFICIAL HUMANS, ROBOTS AND CYBORGS
In this section, we briefly survey events and work that have made modern robot technology
possible. Although most robot technology was primarily developed in the mid and late 20th
century, it is important to note that the notion of robot-like behavior and its implications for
humans have been around for centuries in religion, mythology, philosophy, and fiction [18].
There are reports of automata and mechanical creatures from ancient Egypt, Greece, and China.
The Iliad refers to golden maids that behave like real people [19]. The idea of golem, an “artificial
being of Hebrew folklore endowed with life” has been around for centuries [20,21]. Ancient
Chinese legends and compilations mention robot-like creations, such as the story from the West
Zhou Dynasty (1066BC–771BC) that describes how the craftsman Yanshi presented a humanoid.
The creation looked and moved so much like a human that, when it winked at the concubines, it
was necessary to dismantle it to prove that it was an artificial creation [22].
During the Tang Dynasty, a craftsman, Yang Wullian made a humanoid robot which resembled a
monk. It could beg for alms with a copper cup, put it in place after collecting and even bow down
to the person who gave alms to the robot. All these movements were mechanically actuated and
were either in a fixed sequence or under manual control [23]. Similar robotic devices, such as a
wooden ox and floating horse, were believed to have been invented by the Chinese strategist
Zhuge Liang [18], and a famous Chinese carpenter was reported to have created a
wooden/bamboo magpie that could stay aloft for up to three days [24].
In the 15th
century, Leonardo da Vinci drew up schematics for a mechanical robot knight. It
consisted of a knight’s armor, which was fitted with gears, wheels and pulleys. It was controlled
using cables and pulleys. This robotic knight could lift its visor, sit or stand and could move its
head. Using the plans of the robotic knight made by Leonardo da Vinci, robotist Mark Rosheim

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built a prototype of the knight. He further modified the design and made it more advanced by
introducing the ability to walk [25].
Early robot implementations were remotely operated devices with minimal autonomy. In 1898,
Nicola Tesla demonstrated a radio-controlled boat, which he described as incorporating “a
borrowed mind.” In fact, Tesla controlled the boat remotely. Tesla hypothesized, “. . . you see
there the first of a race of robots, mechanical men which will do the laborious work of the human
race.” He even envisioned one or more operators simultaneously directing 50 or 100 vehicles
[18].
In the 20th
century we entered the era of robotics. An early example includes the Naval Research
Laboratory’s “Electric Dog” robot from 1923. Robots were created for many different purposes in
multiple industries, including attempts to remotely pilot bombers during World War II, the
creation of remotely piloted vehicles, and mechanical creatures designed to give the appearance
of life [26]. In 1940, the first humanoid robot named Elektro [27] was created by Westinghouse
Electric Corporation. It could only move its arms and head, move around on a wheel in its base,
and it could play recorded speech. It consisted of photoelectric eyes and could distinguish
between red and green light [23].
Complementing the advances in robot mechanics, research in artificial intelligence has attempted
to develop fully autonomous robots. The most commonly cited example of an early autonomous
robot was Shakey, which was capable of navigating through a block world under carefully
controlled lighting conditions at the glacially slow speed of approximately 2 meters per hour [28].
Many agree that these early works laid a foundation for much that goes on in robot hybrid control
architectures today [29,30].
The real challenge in production of autonomous humanoid robot is not just the designing but also
programming and developing human functionality. It is important to design a humanoid robot as
closely as possible to the design characteristics of a human being. The robot should also be able to
communicate easily with the others and also should be able to take decisions on its own. The
design was a difficult part to execute, since the extra ordinary balancing capability of the human
being was not an easy task to understand and imply on a humanoid robot [23].
In 1973, Wabot-1, the first humanoid robot which could walk on two legs, communicate with a
human and transport objects was created by Waseda University [31]. Although it could walk on
two legs, the robot could only walk on flat surfaces.
A further breakthrough in autonomous robot technology occurred in the mid-1980s with work in
behavior-based robotics [32,33]. Indeed, it could be argued that this work is a foundation for
many current robotic applications. Behavior-based robotics breaks with the monolithic senseplan-
act loop of a centralized system, and instead uses distributed sense-response loops to generate
appropriate responses to external stimuli. The combination of these distributed responses
produces “emergent” behavior that can produce very sophisticated responses that are robust to
changes in the environment.
Robot behaviors initially focused on mobility, but more recent contributions seek to develop
lifelike anthropomorphic behaviors [34], acceptable behaviors of household robots [35], and
desirable behaviors for robots that follow, pass, or approach humans [36,37,38].
Robots have also factored in multiple works of fiction, such as the mechanical-like birds that were
present in the 1933 poem Byzantium by W. B. Yeats [39]. Robots have always had a large
presence in science fiction literature, most notably the works of Isaac Asimov [40]. Many state

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that Asimov’s Laws of Robotics acted as forerunners to the first design guidelines for human-
robot interaction metaphors.
2.1 Definitions
The word “robot” originates from the Czechoslovakian word robota which means work [23].
“Robot” appears to have first been used in Karel Chapek’s 1920’s play Rossum’s Universal
Robots (the character was a servant robot, which resembled the structure of a human being),
though this was by no means the earliest example of a human-like machine [41].
The term cyborg was first used in 1960 to describe human-machine interfaces (cybernetic
organisms) which could adapt to new environments, specifically space travel [42]. These cyborgs
were intended to taken care of tasks automatically and unconsciously, leaving their creators free
to explore, to create, to think, and to feel. A summary of accepted definitions is given below [43].
Cyborg: An organism with synthetic hardware which interacts directly with the brain, and
alters the way it functions.
Robot: A machine designed to perform a task. A digitally driven creature that can sense and
move.
Android: A robot designed to mimic human behavior and/or appearance.
Bionic: Any organism which has mechanical or robotic hardware designed to augment or
enhance the body.
Sentient: Responsive to or conscious of some impression and context; aware.
The words ‘robot’, ‘android’ and ‘cyborg’ permeate modern culture, demonstrating a need for a
radical rethinking about human positioning in the world. Our human subjectivity, seen in relation
here to the digital technologies that surround us, becomes a shifting, difficult concept. Some
argue that we are already cyborgs and therefore there is no need to question the shift; that humans
are slipping into the technology world, appearing only as projections as we are becoming fully
immersed in the technology [44,45].
McLuhan and Moos [46] describe how we often see technology as an extension of our bodies,
perhaps a response to existential and spiritual uncertainties, as we try to leave our fallible mortal
bodies behind. A range of modern technologies are able to reconfigure our bodies as “dynamic
fields of action in need of regulation and control” [16]. The terms robot and cyborg can be viewed
in both a literal and metaphoric sense, asking questions regarding what it means to have a body,
to share a body, and what it means to lose physical control of your own body [3].
Artificial people may be mechanical, but they may also be engineered through chemical or
biotechnological means, cloned, altered, or reconstructed. While such modes of production
reference technological realities, actual artificial people are truly imaginary, creatures of fiction,
the imagination, and the magic of representational media. And yet despite their unreality they
seem to inform a host of cultural domains and debates, participating in a dense web of
interactions between fiction and reality in contemporary culture [17].
2.2.Applications
There are millions of robots in day-to-day use all around the world, and the rate of take-up of
these systems is increasing rapidly [47]. Over time, it has been the goal for creators and
manufacturers to expand the definition of what a robot is; in other words, the tasks robots are able
to perform are continually expanding with manufacturing, hospitals and space exploration seen as

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common areas of interest for robotics [48,49]. It is generally felt that robots have emerged into an
era of ‘weak’ Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) where currently they can imitate humans without being
independent [50]. Either through autonomous means, or extensive exhaustive programming,
robots have the potential to better everyday life.
This is perhaps nowhere more evident than in the very successful application of unmanned
underwater vehicles that have been used to explore the ocean’s surface to find lost ships, explore
underwater life, assist in underwater construction, and study geothermal activity [51]. The
development of robust robot platforms and communications technologies for extreme
environments has also been successfully used by NASA and other international space agencies.
Space agencies have had several high profile robotic projects, designed with an eye toward safely
exploring remote planets and moons. Examples include early successes of the Soviet Lunokhods
[52] and NASA’s more recent success of exploring the surface of Mars [53,54].
Another of the major fields where humanoid robots have brought significant help is medical. For
example, statistics have shown an epidemic increase since 1960’s in cases of Autistic Spectrum
Disorders (ASD). In recent years, robots have been increasingly used in autism diagnosis and
treatment [55]. Humanoid robots have also been used for the treatment for cerebral palsy
disabilities present in children that cause impairment in movement and posture [56]. Socially
Assistive Robotics (SAR) is an example of a high end technology that assists humans in
rehabilitation treatment of CP and ASD. Using human like responses from humanoid robots it has
been possible to develop motor skills in CP patients and to Improving social and imitation skills
in autistic children [55,56].
Robot technology continues to develop, ever moving in the direction of increasing autonomy.
Robot developers are working toward building robots that can act on their own, independent of
specific direction from users. This type of “smart technology”, as it is sometimes called, has
begun to make its way into the everyday life of humans (Bernstein and Crowley, 2008).
Robot technology developers have started developing physical robots that interact with humans in
everyday settings. These robots are known as social robots. Social robots hold a variety of
different functions, including aiding the elderly, acting as tour guides, and even tutoring [57,58].
The robots can also have emotional roles, acting as companions, allowing people to cope with
negative states such as depression, loneliness, and disability [59]. The use of robots in these areas
has begun to open up a whole range of other areas of human endeavor to mechanical devices,
including challenging areas of the arts and humanities that were traditionally the exclusive
domain of humans [60,61].
There are many different examples of autonomous robots: mechanical (or physical) robots, and
software agents (softbots) which are now an everyday part of our internet experience in
cyberspace [62]. This paper primarily focuses on physical robots, particularly those aspects that
involve human interaction and communication. The paper also particularly focuses on the
potential for robothespians to entertain in the emerging medium of cyborg cinema.
2.3 NAO Robots
The NAO is a humanoid robot created by Aldebaran Robotics - it takes advantage of the fact that
by simply looking human, it is more likely that human viewers will attribute the robot actors with
more human-like qualities than machine-like qualities. A NAO robot (Figure 1) has 25 individual
servo motors offering many degrees of freedom, which allows the robot to move in a similar
manner to humans. The 57cm tall robot has the ability to visually and verbally recognize humans,
the dual cameras embedded in its eyes allow the robot to ‘see’ its surroundings. The NAO robot
can also respond to a human by recognizing sounds using two audio microphone/speaker units,

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positioned on each side of the head and is capable of delivering speech using a variety of text-to-
speech and recording mechanisms.
Figure 1: The Nao Robot
The NAO robots are unable to change their facial expression; they are also unable to
independently change their gaze [63]. The NAO robot is able to use different LED colors in the
eyes to depict changes in expression, but it is appreciated that this may not much of an emotional
dynamic range.
Communication was seen as a critical component of this project to create cyborg cinema.
Research has shown (perhaps via a naïve biology mechanism), that humans attribute verbal
communication to robots if they have mouths. According to one study, the attribution of verbal
communication is enough for people to start a conversation with the robot [58].
Experiments have indicated that the perception of robots can change if they act inappropriately
and out of context [64]. NAO robots can be programmed to react in several types of manners.
Since its degrees of freedom are similar to that of a human’s, biomechanical modeling can mimic
human emotional body language. Also, advanced audio controls can adjust the delivery tone of
speech. The NAO robot has been used to a limited extent theatrically, they have been used in
research projects around storytelling and comedy. Recently, the robots were used by French
researchers to narrate stories to children. The researchers report that the NAO robots possesses
the ability to carefully and closely mimic real life human behavior, and are capable of
reproducing human-like gestures. Using 89 different story segments with different speech styles,
an elaborate lexicon was produced [65].
A social roboticist named Heather Knight has presented a NAO robot as a comedian in a stand-up
comedy show. The robot not only told jokes, but could actually pay attention to the audience and
determine whether the audience was laughing and then adapt its comedy routine [66,67].
3. RELATED WORK ON ROBOTS IN CINEMA
Although theatre has been around for thousands of years, robots have inhabited the earth for only
a couple of decades. However, there exists a long and rich history of technology being integrated
with theatre, acting and performance dating back to the ancient Greeks. These have ranged from
tools used in the mechanics of theatre (winches and revolves for example), the integration of
complex props into performances, the use of realistic mannequins and puppets, to the use of
technological themes within the narratives themselves. Historically, following Aristotle’s
elements of drama; theatrical forms that rely on technological effects are named as a ‘spectacle’,
and are often considered as entertainment rather than serious drama (Laurel, 2013).

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There is a long history of film practitioners investigating and trying out computer technology;
however the late 20th
century showed an increased amount of experimentation with technology.
During this period, the rapid pace of technological development was reflected and mirrored in
performance contexts in films all over the world [7]. This upsurge in multimedia performance
demanded of scholars and reviewers a new critical language to accurately describe and analyse
the work of this nature.
The majority of film productions utilizing digital technology have focused on computer generated
special effects and characters [69,70,71,72]. Modern cinema creates multiple fantastic worlds and
‘spectacles’ that constantly clamor for our attention. However, the acceptance of Computer
generated technology in film has not been universally positive and many push back against the
changes [73,74,75].
As modern consumers we all live tied to our own personal, ubiquitous, interactive digital devices.
New technologies are developed and subsequently introduced and experimented with in media
contexts. Artists and film pioneers continue to push the boundaries of old and new media in their
efforts to explore the ongoing relationship between technology and human bodies. Traditionally,
technologies have had a tendency to contain and limit bodies, fixing them on screen, as if viewed
through lenses. In a cinema context, the appropriation of these technologies has sometimes
reiterated or exposed these restraining boundaries [3].
Although there have been many examples of entertainment robotics, including the use of robots
as robotic story tellers [76], robotic dance partners [77], robotic plants that give users information
such as incoming email [78], and robotic pets [79,80]. However, from a research perspective, not
much has been published in the literature. Early entertainment robotics centered on animatronics,
where the robot generally plays prerecorded sounds that are synchronized with the robots motion.
These types of robots can often be found in old movies and theme parks; however, the interaction
is mostly in one direction, that of the robot presenting information, although the robot’s
performance may be triggered by the presence of the human. However, the 2005 AICHI Expo
demonstrated several robots designed to entertain, including the use of robots as actors and dance
partners [18]; similar work on the relationship between acting, drama, and artificial agents is
presented in recent work using robots as improvisational performers. However, here again, the
role of the human is as an observer, and the interaction is minimal and more implicit [81].
Recently, we have also started to see artificial ‘physical’ characters on theater stages, such as the
one introduced in Richard Maxwell’s play, Joe [82]. Although the robot does not literally merge
or interact with other live bodies in this piece, the very introduction of such technology on stage
introduces the concept of a whole new era of cyborg theatre and cinema. The first dedicated
robotic theatre has recently opened at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw, Poland [83].
Although this playhouse is relatively new, robotic acting has been occurring in other countries for
many years. For example, in 2008, it was reported by BBC that Mitsubishi had created a robot
named Wakamaru which spoke lines of script in Japanese. Wakamaru, a humanoid robot,
performs in plays which emphasize the relationship between “humanity and technology” [84].
When human actors are replaced in cyborg cinema, is there a need to represent differing genders
and races that remain distinct among human actors on the material stage or do we meld all the
stereotypes together into a single cohesive entity represented by the robot actor ? Cyborg cinema
is an extension of the tension and attention exhibited by the audience; it allows us to deeply
investigate technology and the audience’s reactions to it. Cyborg cinema also pushes the
boundaries of ‘posts’ into new territories: post-private, post-identity, post species, post organic.
[3,85].

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Many feminist theorists have already extensively discussed the ideas proposed by cyborg cinema,
particularly the way the technology challenges existing notions of subjectivity in our modern
world [4,14,64,86,87,88,89] . Parker-Starbuck [3] claims that when considering cyborg
subjectivity gender still matters, that individual bodies (human or robotic), however abled, raced,
sexed, all matter in the formation of a subjectivity that opens out to encourage a composite
position.
Ultimately, the robot actors are bodies on the screen. The cyborg actors form links and
connections with the audience through technologies in a presumed cyborg consciousness [3].
These robot actors are often immersed within technology, but resist being absorbed by it; there is
a smooth acceptance by most audiences that evades gender, sexuality, age, race, class, ability.
4. AUDIENCE REACTION TO CYBORG CINEMA
It has been stated that acting itself is a simulated activity, a false activity [90]. Cinema is also
often seen as a transient activity that does not provide a commodifiable end product. The products
from a cinema screening are intangible – even when the film provides satisfaction, excitement,
passion or connectedness.
Filmic media can be classified beyond the limitations of language. Identity and identification are
always based on projection, the audience collects images of the actors on the screen, watching
and interacting with their stories, in relation to our notions of ourselves. The introduction of a
range of new technologies promises new ways of looking at film and an elimination of the actor-
audience divide, including novel modes of understanding immersive experiences. Performances
involve many audiences and actors, forming bonds with and through technological environments
and with techno-subjects [91].
It is provocative to imagine films that are made without the direct participation of live people
[82]. Computer-generated characters have been used in films for many years, but there are still
usually live actors on the screen with them. When we start to consider cyborg cinema and robot
actors, the only ‘live’ component is the audience. Isherwood [15] claims that it is possible to
create humane, affecting works of performance without the literal presence of human beings. The
audience may understand the experience of cyborg cinema intellectually, but when physically
confronted with a film with no human actors, perhaps this understanding needs to be at a different
level. And even when the technologies are well integrated into the film and fairly transparent, the
missing physical bodies can still be disquieting.
Human actors are often in close proximity to the technologies surrounding them on a film set and
rely upon theatrical vocabulary to balance the experience for the audience. Humans on screen are
delicately placed as equally weighted components with technologies in these settings, frequently
creating seemingly seamless performances with the spectators in the movie theater.
Cyborg cinema is not aiming to replicate the traditional experience of cinema or film; instead the
aim is to create a fusion of forms reliant on the embodied actor on screen, interacting with the
audience through various technologies. The performance is being mediated electronically, the
audience sees a network that joins them all [91,92]. Historically, the interplay between film and
audience has produced a relationship that refuses to let human bodies fully disappear. There is a
feedback loop between the actors and their projected counterparts, illustrating for the spectators
the theatrical interplay with film techniques that at times focus the audience’s eyes on the screen
itself and at other times on the bodies on the screen (Gates, 2010).

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However, the introduction of other more advanced technologies onto the screen, cyborg cinema in
particular has the potential to create large, more intricate feedback loops. Cyborg cinema
challenges our modes of viewing and engaging with the performance, making us aware of
disparities between human and robot performers. Audiences may be confused as to how they are
suppose to approach intricate collections of sampled sound, digital images, and moving machine
parts that make up a cyborg cinema performance [4,94].
This struggle between media and bodies, where to look and for how long, frames a tension in the
audience. As more technology is introduced onto the screen there is always the possibility that
audiences will remain detached, almost clinical observers, as the performance is revealed through
a process of mediation. Alternatively the introduction of technology onto the screen can be
regarded as introducing a new, interesting form that could perhaps extend cinema’s life, and from
this practical perspective facilitate a future of movie goers for generations addicted to their mobile
phones, computer games and other screens [3,95].
Usually when a robot is seen on screen there’s little to no data as to how the audience perceives
the presence of the robot in the film. Yet, each film that incorporates an artificial character helps
in maintaining and promoting the idea of advanced technology in culture [96]. The NAO robot
used in the experiment described in this paper is a humanoid robot and therefore can be seen by
audiences as having a more human appearance/representation.
Glaskin [97] believes the everyday social interaction the public now has with advanced A.I.
technology allows people to begin to anthropomorphize robots, which, in turn, will then allow for
acceptance. Oyedele et al [98] proposed in their study that
“It is expected that both the context within which humans and robots interact and the
extent to which the robot resembles a human will influence affect toward the robot”.
5. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
The purpose of this research experiment is to analyze audience response to NAO robots,
portrayed in a series of short films. The research is is concerned with how the fears or anxieties
audiences have toward artificial humans can influence their level of comfort when watching these
films. It is hypothesized that watching past sci-fi films, have influenced audiences’ comfortability
as they watch robots perform in the films used in this experiment. It is predicted that older
audiences will be less comfortable with the presence of A.I. in film. It is also expected that
participants would be more likely to assign a gender to artificial human characters from films
with human characters performing alongside robot characters. This experiment aims to provide
statistical data on the anthropomorphizing of artificial humans in film.
The film making process was an interdisciplinary experience involving media students from
RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia working with Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
students from the State University of New York (at Oswego), USA. Scripts for short films that
focused on robot technology were written by the Australian students. The American students
filmed the scripts in the USA. The robots used were the autonomous, programmable and
humanoid NAO robots [96].
The three short films produced had very different plots :
• “Robbot” is about a woman who’s husband died and she decided to replace him with a
robotic husband (Figure 2a).
• “Jonno and Mate” is about an man and a robot becoming friends (Figure 2b).

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• The third film is a re-interpretation of a scene from the book, “Do Androids Dream of
Electric Sheep” [97].
This collaborative experience involved an interdisciplinary team with multiple skills: writing,
acting, directing, programming, filming, editing, post-production. The production involved
multiple participants interacting with the robots in many different ways.
The robot film making experience allowed the research team to investigate HRI as a behavioral
process, where the filmmakers and actors interact with physical robots and the audience interact
with robot representations displayed on a screen. Each role in the production had specific
expectations associated with it; particularly with respect to the robots performing a form of
‘social’ interaction with the cast and crew members. For example, the writers needed to know
about the robots properties, their capabilities and their potential behavior in each scene. For acting
with robots, the actors/actresses needed to know what they can expect from their co-performers
(the robots). In this respect, not only the design of the physical properties, or robot appearance, is
important, but also the design of its behavior is a very important issue [98].
Figure 2a: The Robbot Movie Figure 2b: The Jonno and Mate Movie
Looking at interactions through this lens of cinema gives a number of ways to solve some major
HRI problems. To overcome the articulation problem, we must learn how human actors move, in
a way that can be translated to the limited degrees of freedom on a robot. Using skilled actors as a
model presents a way to get a limited amount of motion to be subtly nuanced, intended to convey
the actor’s intent.
In general, bringing in cinema professionals (actors, directors, choreographers, etc.) to provide a
feedback loop about how they see a robot’s motions should also be useful, as they are trained in a
way that roboticists generally are not to view movement with a more precise eye. They can use
that knowledge to overcome the robot’s mechanical constraints and help overcome the
intentionality problem.
Further, by realizing the movement’s position in a larger dramatic arc, treating an interaction like
a performance piece can help disambiguate a robot’s motions. While a particular movement can
be ambiguous, consciously putting it in a larger context can help make it specific and clear. Also,
sensing becomes slightly easier by using labelled human motions performed by actors as a way to
help interpret what the humans are doing, solving one small portion of the interpretation problem.
Additionally, controlled performative experiences can often eliminate the need for a precise
sensing metric. Finally, we can use the judgments of film criticism and untrained audience
reactions to help evaluate how well the robots perform [5].

12
The development of a robot performance is dependent on accuracy; the robots need to be in exact
positions on the set to allow props to be passed between them. Therefore, the timing of movement
and delivery of the lines was deemed to be a key feature underlying the programming the robot
performance. To ensure that every line was said in sequence and none were skipped, the lines
were programmed as a series. In other words, when one line ended, the next would begin. The
next line could not be delivered until the last line had been finished. Individual chunks of
programming code were created, and these were linked together to form a timed movement
flowchart, where all of the robot actor’s cue were set, so that individual sections of the code
would run in the correct order.
Figure 3 shows a small section of the programming flowchart controlling one of the robots, each
icon in the figure represents a section of programming code. To give some idea of the complexity
of the task involved in programming the robot thespians, it should be noted that this section of the
flowchart controls no more than a few seconds of the performance of one robot. In the initial
performance the text to speech capabilities of the NAO robots was used to generate the audio for
each of the lines delivered during the performed scene. Lines were timed with a stopwatch to
validate that lines by the robot weren’t being spoken too slow or too fast.A number of dress
rehearsals of the scene were performed in the robot laboratory. When the cyborg performers were
ready, the robots were filmed performing their roles in the film scenes on stages and sets in the
university theatre department’s acting laboratory.
Figure 3: A Portion of the Robot Control Flowchart Linking Individual Sections of Code
Participants were shown three films which incorporated artificial humans as actors. Two of the
films shown had a NAO robot playing a major role in the cast. After viewing the films,
participants were then asked to complete a brief questionnaire.
The transhumanism questionnaire allowed for participants to record their responses to multiple
questions about the films that were seen on a 10-point scale. The purpose of the questionnaire was
to measure how the participants reacted to the films. One portion of the questionnaire was to

13
decide how participants would view artificial humans in films in the future. Another portion of
the questionnaire was used to decide how participants felt about the current film. Questions were
asked on the participants’ fear or feelings towards the robots in the film as well as how well they
felt they understood the films’ robots. The next section of the questionnaire was concerned with
whether or not the participants associated the robots with a specific gender.
After data was collected, participant data was placed into separate groups based on their age
group. Participants aged 18-21 were seen as Group A. Participants aged 22-25 were seen as
Group B. Participants aged 26-29 Group C, 30-33 Group D and 54-58 Group E.
6. RESULTS
For this study, age and gender are seen as independent variables with comfort, emotions (fear and
weirdness) and future perceptions are dependent variables. There was a total of 81 participants
used in this study (N=81), a larger participant pool than many other comparable experiments in
the literature. A single factor ANOVA test was conducted to compare the effect of age on
comfort, fear, weirdness and future perception. The results were not found statistically significant,
F (5,468) = 45.22, p = 4.47.
Group A (n = 44, M=4.08, SD = 1.15), Group B (n = 29, M=4.10, SD = 1.11) and Group C (n =
4, M=4.75, SD = .05) responded as being comfortable when watching the NAO robots in the film.
Group D (n = 1, M=5, SD = 0) and Group E (n = 2, M=5, SD = 0) responded as being very
comfortable when watching the Nao robots in the film. In total all the groups were comfortable
while watching the Nao robots in the films (M=4.15, SD = 1.11). However, the groups with the
older aged participants responded as being very comfortable watching the robots in the film
versus the groups with the younger participants. (See Figure 4) This can be due to older audiences
having the opportunity to watch more A.I. films than younger audiences.
Figure 4. Averages of Transhumanism Questionnaire Responses
Group A (M=1.39, SD = 0.69), B (M=1.41, SD = 0.82), D (M=1, SD = 0) and E (M=1, SD = 0)
were not scared at all when watching the robots being in the film. Group C (M=2, SD =2) was
moderately scared when watching the robots in the film. Group C (M=1.5, SD = 1) and D (M=1,
SD = 0) thought that it was easy to understand the robots. Group A (M=2.44, SD = 1.24) found
the robots understandable. Group B (M=3.13, SD = 1.32) and E (M=3, SD = 2.82) were unsure
about how much they could understand from the robots. Group A (M=2.68, SD = 1.30) and
Group B (M=2.70, SD = 1.42) found the robots to be slightly weird while watching the film.

14
However, Group C (M=1.25, SD = 0.50), D (M=1, SD = 0) and E (M=1, SD = 0) did not find the
robots weird at all. So, while the participant in Group E was not scared of the robots in the film,
they were still unsure with how much they understood from the robots but still did not find the
robots weird. Group A on the other hand were not scared at all and found the robots
understandable and still slightly weird.
Group A (M=3.02, SD = 1.37), B (M=3.33, SD = 1.44) and C (M=3.25, SD = 2.06) thought that
audiences in the future could possibly be watching virtual actors and robot actors. Group D (M=4,
SD = 0) thought that it was very possible that future audiences will watch virtual actors and robot
actors in the future. Group E (M=5, SD = 0) was definitely sure that audiences would watch
virtual actors and robot actors in the future. Group A (M=3.07, SD = 1.17), B (M=3.72, SD =
1.22) and C (M=3.50, SD = 1.91) are somewhat comfortable with the idea of watching virtual
actors and robot actors in the future. Group E (M=4, SD = 1.41) was comfortable with the idea of
watching virtual actors and robots in the future. Group D (M=5, SD = 0) was very comfortable
with the idea of watching virtual actors and robots in the future. Once again, Groups E and D are
more comfortable with watching A.I. in films in the future than younger groups.
Participants were asked their thoughts on the inclusion of gender roles within the films. While
viewing the Robbot film, all of the participants thought that there were some gender roles given to
the robot in the film (M=3.73, SD=1.36). For the Johnno film, both female (n=44, M=2.30,
SD=1.42) and male (n=33, M=2, SD=1.29) participants found the robot in the film to not have a
prominent gender role. In the Do Androids film, male (M=2.33, SD=1.15) found the robots in the
film to not have prominent gender roles. While female (M=1.57, SD=0.97) participants found the
robots in the film to have a gender roles. Out of the three films, participants found the Robbot
film’s artificial human to have the highest level of gender (M=3.73, SD=1.36).
7. ANALYSIS
During the production of the robot films, a number of technical aspects were deemed worthy of
assessment. The productions were deemed a success, and the films were considered ready for
public viewing, when all of the following criteria were met.
• Firstly, the length of the scenes involving the robots should be approximately the same length
as scenes with human actors. The length of the production was deemed important because this
will indicate how successful the robots were at moving into position and making correct
movements.
• Secondly, the NAO robots must deliver all the lines from the film scripts correctly, at the
appropriate times, without missing any or making mistakes.
• Thirdly, the cyborg thespians must also complete the passing, grabbing, and picking up of
props successfully. The success of props and lines will be a pass/fail condition, since these
usually work in succession
• Lastly, once the programing and preparation is completed, the robots should be able to
perform the scenes in one complete sequence. The overall performance of the scene can be
viewed (in a technical capacity) as a pass/fail for every time both robots are run. After weeks
of preparation (comparable to rehearsal time) the robot thespians were ready to be filmed.
There was a general feeling among the audience members that robots still need to improve in
regard to movement. It was felt that the NAO robots did not possess as many degrees of freedoms
as humans. Some movements were deemed too difficult for the robot to perform on camera - for
example, the ability to rotate the lower body. Walking is a very common movement, but the NAO

15
robots walk differently than humans. It is very obvious in the robot films that this affected the
experience of the audience who noticed these unnatural movements. Grasping is also difficult to
perform, as the human hand is very complex and is inherently difficult to replicate. For example,
the NAO robots only have 3 fingers. One acts in opposition from the other two. Joints in the
fingers cannot act independently in these robots, this created problems in the nuanced
manipulation of some of the props.
The physical appearance of the cyborg thespians on screen was not seen as a problem by the
audience. In the feedback, the audience were very accepting of the robot actors. It was felt that
part of this was due to their engagement with the innovative nature of the robot performance.
Interestingly, a number of audience members stated that they saw the robots as
genderless.Probably the biggest issue for robots while performing in the films is the lack of
consciousness. Robots don’t know where the director wants them to start a scene. They won’t
automatically figure out where they need to walk to, or altering their movement direction perhaps
in response to something changing on set. If robots were truly autonomous, with strong A.I., they
would behave more like true human actors, altering and improvising as the situation dictates. A
sense of consciousness however is not the same as volition. That is, being able to learn and to
improve, is not equivalent to a free will. It is arguable that many actions and lines produced are
dictated so by a director or writer. Thus, one could argue that actors themselves do not possess
volition. They merely follow a set of choreographed movements and repeat memorised lines.
Along with the development of robotic interfaces, there has been more research published on the
evaluation of these systems. HRI researchers have employed a variety of evaluation styles in their
work; they can evaluate their systems summatively (i.e.,after-the-fact) or formatively (i.e., during
system development). The problem with applying heuristic evaluation to HRI, however, is the
validity of using existing usability and efficiency heuristics for HRI. In the past, critics have often
evaluated the performance of actors through the prism of how well they connected with the
audience. A similar evaluation was used to help define and refine an evaluation method of robots
and how well they connected with their audience. In this work HRI is not only evaluated in a
cinematic setting, but also a measure of how well the human cast and audience react and connect
to the robots in these settings.
Two of the films in the study strongly featured NAO robots as characters within the film (Robbot
and Johnno). The third film used human actors to play the role of the artificial human (Do
Androids). In Robbot, the Nao robot in the film played the character of a woman’s husband. The
woman programmed the robot to respond to situations as her husband would. So, she designed the
robot in the image of her deceased husband. In the film Johnno, a robot was programmed to help
a professor with his work. However, the robot ended up in the hands of a man other than the
professor. The audience responses in this study demonstrated that artificial characters are usually
seen as separate from the human race. Instead, these characters are part of their own race of
robots.
Based on the premises of the films, it was interesting to find that participants saw the Do Android
characters to have no gender roles. Especially since the actors in the film were male and female.
The fact that participants thought that the films with actual robots as actors showed stronger
gender roles is somewhat perplexing. However, it could suggest that the participants of the study
were familiar with artificial gender roles from past films. Also, the film Robbot specifically
showed that the robot in the film was there to replace a character’s husband.
In certain cultures, the use of humanoid robots is more prominent than others. Glaskin [99]
explains how in Japanese culture, there is more exposure to humanoid robots than in other
cultures. In American culture, the idea of robots artificial humans is widely displayed in film
culture. There is an assumption that the technology demonstrated in films will become available

16
to consumers in the future. Therefore, one can conclude that robot technology in films encourages
the future production of technology and vice versa.
8. CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, the NAO robots were able to perform in a series of short films successfully. A
number of issues were identified by the audience members, mainly relating to movement of the
robots. Of course, the larger research question, even in a simple experiment such as this, is the
efficacy of using robots as actors to perform in films such as this and their effect upon an
audience. It is apparent that when an audience compares cyborg and human cinema, they will
probably compare what the robotic actors lack to (what they believe are) perfected, human actors.
Therefore, this comparison is biased since currently robots still lack autonomy, human motion
and advanced language processing. However, cyborg thespians offer a degree of control and
precision not available in human actors. As in the human cinema, the success of the cyborg
cinema will primarily depend on the response of the audience.
The amount of robot actors in films will only continue to grow. Since the characters in most films
are reflexive of human traits and behaviors, humans can relate to these characters. By relating
with these characters, audiences are also anthropomorphizing them. This is a fundamental
framework for the idea of transhumanism to continue to develop in audiences. In return,
audiences will also be able to give these characters’ human traits such as gender. This allows for
the idea of the presence of artificial humans. to become more normalized in society. The data
analyzed in this study demonstrated, that the more audiences view robots in film, the more
comfortable they will be with future robots playing roles in films. This is supported by older
participants being more comfortable with artificial humans in future films than younger
participants. More research is needed to support the findings in this paper. However, this study
does provide a strong argument for the reason why audiences can relate to A.I. in films.
This paper has outlined the ways in which cyborg cinema involving robot thespians has already
provided a deeper understanding of how intentional or coincidental robot actions might impact
human perception. While it is acknowledged that cinematic contexts are often distinct from
natural sociability, robotic interaction schemas generally place humans at the center of overall
task goals, thus there are many overlapping lessons we can glean from the construct of an actor
and audience.
Future work should continue to evaluate cross-applications of social knowledge from
dramaturgical theory to robot behavior systems, and envision contexts for cyborg cinema that
frame the audience as a user study full of participants.
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Author
Damian Schofield is currently Director of Human Computer Interaction (Full
Professor) at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Oswego, a position
he has held since November 2009. He also currently Adjunct Associate
Professor of Forensic Computing at Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western
Australia.
Prior to his move to America, Dr. Schofield held the position of the Associate
Professor of Computer Games and Digital Media, in the School of Creative
Media at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. Before his move out to Australia, he was
Lecturer in the School of Computer Science at the University of Nottingham, UK. Dr. Schofield
also remains a director and major shareholder of Aims Solutions Ltd., a UK company, that
provides computer graphics visualization services and virtual reality based simulation training
products to a wide range of organizations.
Dr. Schofield has been involved in research examining the use of digital media and technology in
a variety of commercial environments for over 20 years. He is particularly interested in virtual
reconstructions (using computer games/graphics technology) and the introduction of robot and
A.I. technology in new areas.

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