Disambiguating Anthropomorphism and Anthropomimesis in Human-Robot Interaction

2026-02-10

AI Summary

This study addresses the frequent conflation of anthropomorphism and anthropomimesis in human-robot interaction (HRI) research, which obscures design accountability and attribution mechanisms. It systematically distinguishes these concepts for the first time: anthropomorphism refers to users’ subjective perception that a robot possesses human-like traits, representing a receiver-side phenomenon, whereas anthropomimesis denotes designers’ intentional endowment of robots with human characteristics, constituting a design-side practice. Through conceptual analysis and theoretical modeling grounded in social robotics and HRI theory, the work clarifies the distinct roles of perceivers and designers in the attribution of human traits. The resulting definitional framework offers a foundational contribution to HRI theory, robot design, and evaluation methodologies.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling and simulation for interactive and conversational systems
• Semantics and Knowledge: Data modeling to support human-machine intelligence, including LLMs agents, intelligent system behavior, explanations, and user-friendly interactions

Abstract

In this preliminary work, we offer an initial disambiguation of the theoretical concepts anthropomorphism and anthropomimesis in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and social robotics. We define anthropomorphism as users perceiving human-like qualities in robots, and anthropomimesis as robot developers designing human-like features into robots. This contribution aims to provide a clarification and exploration of these concepts for future HRI scholarship, particularly regarding the party responsible for human-like qualities - robot perceiver for anthropomorphism, and robot designer for anthropomimesis. We provide this contribution so that researchers can build on these disambiguated theoretical concepts for future robot design and evaluation.

Problem

• anthropomorphism
• anthropomimesis
• Human-Robot Interaction
• social robotics
• concept disambiguation

Innovation

• anthropomorphism
• anthropomimesis
• human-robot interaction
• social robotics
• theoretical disambiguation