User preferences for effective task completion while interacting with a robotic conversational animated face

We present a study about the preferences that users may have while interacting with a robot by means of a conversational animated interface, and the impact in task completion. An animated face was developed to simulate Spanish visems, and integrated with a conversational system. This system is designed for a robot to give information about a site using speech in an interactive dialogue. We performed a usability study to compare the efficiency, effectiveness and interaction experience of the conversational system, with and without the animated face. The results show that the interaction with an animated face seems more inviting to the user, it inspires confidence and makes easier the communication. However, it may distract the user from the main objective of the system, and could make the interaction slower due to the high computational resources required to animate a realistic face.