[4M2-OS-14b] OS-14

[4M2-OS-14b-02] From Self-Sacrifice to Social Connection

Examining the Role of Robot Altruism in Human Prosociality

〇Chenlin Hang^1,2, Masahiro Shiomi³, Seiji Yamada^2,1 (1. The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 2. National Institute of Informatics, 3. Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International)

Keywords:trust, agent, prosocial

This study investigates the impact of robot self-sacrifice on human trust and prosocial behaviors. While existing research in human-robot interaction (HRI) often delves into moral dilemmas, such as the trolley problem, this work shifts focus to practical contexts where robots engage in altruistic actions, like sacrificing their own battery to assist a user. In an experiment involving 30 participants, results revealed that robots exhibiting self-sacrificial behavior significantly encouraged prosocial actions, although perceptions of the robots' social attributes remained unchanged across conditions. These findings suggest that while self-sacrifice does not necessarily enhance how robots are perceived, it can effectively promote cooperative behaviors among humans. This research contributes to the development of socially interactive robots capable of fostering prosocial dynamics in human-robot coexistence.