"By the way, what's your name?": The Effect of Robotic Bar-stools on Human-human Opening-encounters

Opening-encounters are an integral element of social interaction and are essential for social relationships. Specifically, opening-encounters between strangers form a complex social context and often involve awkwardness and tension. We explored whether augmenting everyday objects with autonomous capabilities can facilitate an opening-encounter between strangers. A pair of robotic bar-stools were designed to rotate participants sitting on them. We evaluated the opening-encounter experience in three conditions: bar-stools rotating participants towards one another; bar-stools rotating participants away from one another; and bar-stools with no rotation. Our initial findings indicate that rotating participants towards each other led to positive encounters, encouraged social interaction, and increased interpersonal communication. The other two conditions were less likely to initiate social interactions. This preliminary study highlights the potential of facilitating positive opening-encounters using autonomous furniture that are perceived as a natural part of the interaction, without altering its human-human nature.