Social Robotics and Engineering Students: Do They Match? Does Culture Matter?

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
77 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This study investigates the level of familiarity and interest of students towards social robotics through a survey conducted with the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Students at Heriot-Watt University in the UK and Electrical Engineering Students at Xidian University in China. The results indicate that whereas there is no significant difference in the level of familiarity within the three groups of students and no significant difference in the level of interest between the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Students at Heriot Watt University, there is a statistically significant difference in the level of interest towards social robotics between the Heriot-Watt University and Xidian University Students. Xidian University Students demonstrate a higher level of interest towards social robotics. The qualitative analysis shows that many of the Xidian University Students are willing to perceive and have robots as companions whereas none of the Heriot-Watt University Students show such or similar tendency. This observation indicates that cultural background plays a significant role in interests and preferences of the students towards social robotics.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages9
JournalInternational Journal of Social Robotics
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Dec 2019

Keywords

  • Cultural background
  • Culture
  • Education
  • Engineering
  • Social robotics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Computer Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Social Robotics and Engineering Students: Do They Match? Does Culture Matter?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this