Perception of human-robot relationships: Professional, communicative, impersonal and emotionless

Humans extend social perceptions not only to other people but also to non-human entities such as pets, toys, and robots. This study investigates how individuals differentiate between various relationship partners—a familiar person, a professional person, a pet, a cuddly toy, and a social robot—across three interaction contexts: caregiving, conversation, and leisure. Using the Repertory Grid Method, 103 participants generated 811 construct pairs, which were categorized into seven psychological dimensions: Verbal Communication, Assistance and Competences, Liveness and Humanity, Emotional and Empathic Ability, Autonomy and Voluntariness, Trust and Closeness, and Physical Activity and Responsiveness. Cluster analyses revealed that in Verbal Communication and Assistance and Competences, robots were perceived similarly to human partners, indicating functional comparability. In contrast, for Liveness and Humanity and Emotional and Empathic Ability, humans clustered with pets—distinct from robots and cuddly toys—highlighting robots’ lack of perceived emotional richness and animacy. Interestingly, in Autonomy and Voluntariness and Trust and Closeness, robots were grouped with professional humans, while familiar persons, pets, and cuddly toys formed a separate cluster, suggesting that robots are seen as formal, emotionally distant partners. These findings indicate that while robots may match human partners in communicative and task-oriented domains, they are not regarded as emotionally intimate or fully animate beings. Instead, they occupy a hybrid role—competent yet impersonal—situated between tools and social agents. The study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of human-robot relationships by identifying the psychological dimensions that shape perceptions of sociality, animacy, and relational closeness with non-human partners.