Abstract
How do robot designers anthropomorphize their own creations? Because robot designers have the ability to alter the robot, identify as its creator, and understand their robot's internal makeup, their process of anthropomorphism and its outcomes may be different from that of the typical robot user. We investigate this research question in the domain of combat robots, where anthropomorphism is critical to decision-making, communication, and trust in high-stakes, high-emotion combat situations faced by robot-soldier teams. We conducted an in-depth case study of a university's student-led Combat Robotics Design Team over the design, construction, testing, and competition phases for their competitive combat robot. Based on inductive computational and human coding of extensive field notes, supplemented with interviews and surveys, we found that these robot designers anthropomorphize for three purposes. First, they anthropomorphize the bot to manage impressions of it within their team and to outsiders like competitors, spectators, and sponsors, specifically presenting it as a warrior. Second, they anthropomorphize it like a child, a pet, or simply treat it as a non-anthropomorphic mechanical set of parts as a way to calibrate their relationship and attach with or detach from their own creation. Third, they anthropomorphize the bots to assign blame either blaming it, its parts, or others based on their expectations of whether it is performing based on how they designed it. We conclude with implications for anthropomorphism by robot designers and application to military robot design.
Recommended Citation
Shank, D. B., Sunkpal, F. F., Young, N. L., Hoerstkamp, K., Wright, D., Krueger, M. A., & Davis, C. J. (2026). Warrior Bot, Relational Bot, Blameworthy Bot: How a Student Design Team Anthropomorphize Their Combat Robot Creations. ACM Transactions on Human Robot Interaction, 15(2) Association for Computing Machinery (ACM).
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1145/3785150
Department(s)
Psychological Science
Second Department
English and Technical Communication
Publication Status
Open Access
Keywords and Phrases
Anthropomorphism; Combat Robots; Designers; Military Robots; Robots
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2573-9522
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2026 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Mar 2026
Included in
Rhetoric and Composition Commons, Social Psychology Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons, Technical and Professional Writing Commons
