The Impact of Robot Design Approach on Product Evaluation, Product Usefulness and Purchase Intention

Robot design approach can be classified into two: biologically inspired versus functionally designed. This study explored the effect of robot design types on product evaluation, product usefulness, and purchase intention. In the experiment, we compared a group of functionally designed robots having single functions with a biologically inspired robot having multifarious functions. The results showed that participants evaluated the functionally designed robot more positively than the biologically inspired robot on product evaluation and product usefulness. Moreover, participants were willing to purchase the functionally designed robot more than the biologically inspired robot. These results showed that robot designers and developers should take the appropriate design approach for a better human-robot interaction.