Measures

We identified variables of interest from the characteristics of participants and their interactions. Three research assistants manually coded participants as individuals, members of a new-formed group, or members of a pre-formed group. The coding of some participants changed through the duration of the video, such as when a participant entered as an individual but then became a member of a new-formed group. These research assistants additionally coded participants’ role as student worker, patron, or bystander. Finally, they coded the number of times and different ways participants interacted with Pepper: stop and observe, verbal interactions, non-verbal interactions, ignore Pepper–prompted, and ignore Pepper–not prompted (See Table 1 for all variable definitions).

A description of all variable definitions used when coding the video feed and inter-rater reliability (IRR).

We also attempted to administer a questionnaire after participants’ interaction with the robot to learn more about their acceptance of this technology as an individual or group member. However, it soon became clear that people at the café did not have the time or interest in taking the questionnaire. Therefore, instead, we ran Study two to collect online survey data.