Understanding the social effects induced by the ambient observation of a robot is essential for their successful integration into human environments. This study explores the influence of eye-related design factors of robots on human perceptions associated with social facilitation. We conducted an online experiment to test the hypothesis that visual and behavioral features of the eyes of a robot influence the feeling of being watched and perceived agency, which together shape public self-awareness. Using a 2 × 3 ×2 ×2 between-subjects design, we manipulated four eye-related factors in a virtual robot: visual realism, size, gaze cue, and blinking. Our analysis revealed that, contrary to our expectations, visual realism and size did not influence the feeling of being watched. However, gaze cue positively affected perceived agency while blinking enhanced it. Perceived agency, in turn, emerged as a significant predictor of public self-awareness. The structural model highlighted a significant relationship: perceived agency enhances the feeling of being watched. These findings suggest that perceived agency mediates the relationship between robotic eye behaviors and public self-awareness. This study provides foundational insights for designing social robots to enhance human experiences in shared spaces.

Eyes have been widely found to play an important role in communicating emotions and intentions for social robots. However, when introducing robots with eyes into people’s personal living spaces, it is necessary to consider how the social aspects of a robot impact perceptions of privacy. Specifically, in this paper we explored how the design of a robot’s eyes and eye-use behavior impacts use perception of privacy and related concerns. We developed a prototype robot with display-based eyes and investigated the impacts on perceptions of privacy concerns living with the robot. Our findings indicated that robot eye design does impact perceptions of privacy concerns, with the unexpected result of robots whose eyes that stay always on garnering lower concerns than eyes that close or turn off (the display) just before a person leaves. This result offer valuable insights for robot development and present empirical evidence on the influence of robot eye design on user privacy concerns.