Attribution of identity in autonomous action

This paper investigates how people attribute individual autonomy to a remotely operated robot. An experiment was conducted in which participants remotely operated a goalkeeper robot to defend its goal from the kicker robot. Participants were assigned to two types of experimental conditions. Participants assigned to the first condition watched video images that captured the motion of the kicker robot from behind the goal. Participants assigned to the second condition watched video images of the kicker robot from the position of the goalkeeper robot. The result suggests that people are not concerned with the avatar´s embodiment but assume their own body when they are focused on the avatar´s (robot´s) situation.