Differences on social acceptance of humanoid robots between Japan and the UK

Abstract

To validate a questionnaire for measuring people's acceptance of humanoid robots in cross-cultural research (the Frankenstein Syndrome Questionnaire: FSQ), an online survey was conducted in both the UK and Japan including items on perceptions of the relation to the family and commitment to religions, and negative attitudes toward robots (the NARS). The results suggested that 1) the correlations between the FSQ subscale scores and NARS were sufficient, 2) the UK people felt more negative toward humanoid robots than did the Japanese people, 3) young UK people had more expectation for humanoid robots, 4) relationships between social acceptance of humanoid robots and negative attitudes toward robots in general were different between the nations and generations, and 5) there were no correlations between the FSQ subscale scores, and perception of the relation to the family and commitment to religions.