What is the Pepper robot and who made it?

Pepper is a humanoid social robot developed by Japan's SoftBank Group. It can recognize faces and voices and respond in a human-like manner, and has been widely used in service, education, and research settings.

What did the NTNU experiment actually involve?

Participants played a series of physical interaction games with Pepper in two modes — cooperative and competitive. Researchers then recorded their subjective feelings, emotional reactions, and how readily they accepted the robot as an interaction partner.

Why does this research matter for the robotics industry?

As humanoid robots become more common in daily life — as caregivers, learning aids, or companions — understanding how humans psychologically respond to them is critical. NTNU's empirical findings help developers design social robots that better meet human emotional and behavioral expectations.

Can Pepper Be a Good Playmate? NTNU Conducts Human-Robot Interaction Experiment

Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have conducted a controlled laboratory experiment using SoftBank's humanoid social robot Pepper, examining how people experience and respond to physical play interactions with a robot that both looks and behaves like a human — in both cooperative and competitive scenarios.

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Highlights

NTNU researchers conducted a controlled lab experiment using SoftBank's Pepper humanoid robot to study human responses during cooperative and competitive physical play.

The study recorded participants' subjective feelings, emotional reactions, and acceptance levels toward a robot that mimics human appearance and behavior.

A core research question is whether a robot's human-like appearance and expressions alter users' trust, warmth, and competitive instincts.

Findings are intended to inform the design of social robots for real-world applications including caregiving, education, and companionship.

The research provides empirical evidence to help developers create social robots that align more closely with human psychological needs.

Can Pepper Be a Good Playmate? NTNU Conducts Human-Robot Interaction Experiment

What is it actually like to play a game alongside — or against — a robot that looks and acts like a human? That is the central question driving a new controlled laboratory study by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), who selected Pepper, a humanoid social robot purpose-built for human interaction, as the subject of their investigation.

About the Pepper Robot

Pepper is a humanoid social robot developed by Japan's SoftBank Group. Equipped with the ability to recognize faces and voices and respond accordingly, Pepper was designed from the outset to interact with users in a natural, human-like manner. It has since been widely deployed across service, education, and research applications worldwide.

Experimental Design and Research Objectives

The NTNU research team designed a series of physical interaction games in which participants engaged with Pepper in two distinct modes: cooperative and competitive. Throughout the sessions, researchers recorded participants' subjective impressions, emotional responses, and overall acceptance of the robot.

At the heart of the study lies a fundamental question: when a robot not only looks human but also mimics human behavior and expressions, do people's sense of trust, feelings of warmth, and even their competitive instincts change in response?

Implications for the Future of Human-Robot Interaction

The findings carry significant implications for the design and deployment of social robots. As humanoid robot technology continues to advance, enabling robots to play a more natural interactive role in everyday life — whether as a playmate, a learning companion, or a caregiving assistant — is set to become one of the defining challenges for the industry.

By providing empirical evidence from a rigorously controlled setting, NTNU's study offers a valuable reference point for developers working to build social robots that better align with human psychological needs and expectations.

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