Navigating Psychological Boundaries: A Boundary-Aware Interaction Policy for Adaptive Service Robots in Exhibitions

Navigating Psychological Boundaries: A Boundary-Aware Interaction Policy for Adaptive Service Robots in Exhibitions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Navigating Psychological Boundaries: A Boundary-Aware Interaction Policy for Adaptive Service Robots in Exhibitions Heeyoon Yoon, Min-Gyu Kim, Chanill Park, Ha-Neul Ahn This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8906070/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 13 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract While service robots in exhibition spaces are evolving into social agents that mediate visitor experiences beyond mere information delivery, the service paradox remains a persistent challenge where unsolicited proactive interventions diminish visitor satisfaction. This study proposes the concept of psychological boundaries as a regulatory mechanism for visitors' openness to robotic intervention and develops a boundary-aware interaction policy. Empirical analysis of 164 visitors revealed that service preferences are structured into three latent dimensions: proactive support, adaptive responsiveness, and autonomy-oriented minimal service. Furthermore, the study identifies that hedonic and epistemic visit motivations are key determinants of the permeability of these psychological boundaries. Based on these findings, we established a cost-sensitive decision model optimized for the asymmetric social costs of misclassification. The results demonstrate the efficacy of this policy in accurately classifying visitor types at an early stage and selecting appropriate service intensities with high accuracy. This research suggests that robotic intelligence resides not merely in increasing service quantity but in situational restraint, which involves determining when to withhold intervention to respect visitor autonomy, thereby providing a novel framework for the design of non-intrusive service robots. Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Biological sciences/Psychology Social science/Psychology Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 30 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 29 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 28 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 22 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 19 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 19 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 17 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 18 Mar, 2026 Editor invited by journal 02 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Feb, 2026 First submitted to journal 24 Feb, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8906070","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":625896162,"identity":"888cf360-fee3-470a-9204-64700914c600","order_by":0,"name":"Heeyoon Yoon","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Korea Institute of Robotics and Technology Convergence","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Heeyoon","middleName":"","lastName":"Yoon","suffix":""},{"id":625896163,"identity":"bfe591bb-659a-42ee-a238-7aac2cb118a7","order_by":1,"name":"Min-Gyu Kim","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Korea Institute of Robotics and Technology Convergence","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Min-Gyu","middleName":"","lastName":"Kim","suffix":""},{"id":625896164,"identity":"2a3973be-f805-4543-af05-5d17b38b55d4","order_by":2,"name":"Chanill Park","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Korea Institute of Robotics and Technology Convergence","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chanill","middleName":"","lastName":"Park","suffix":""},{"id":625896165,"identity":"4042c27f-94f1-486d-9c2f-08aabdd2a985","order_by":3,"name":"Ha-Neul Ahn","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAw0lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYDACHgYGZgYGG8Y2CDeBaC1pjG1sJGo5zNhAtBb5njOGnwt3nJftk29g/PCDIS2foBaDsz3G0jPP3DYGOoxZsochx7KBoBZ+HgNp3rbbiSC/SDMwVBgQdlg/j/Fv3rZzIC3Mv4nSwnC2xwxoywGQFjagLTmEtRicOVZmzduWDPRLYptlj0EaEQ7rSd58m7fNTnZ+8+HDN35UJBPhMAYOmCLGBqClRGhgYGB/QJSyUTAKRsEoGMEAAIioMzqY4qXgAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Dong-Eui Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ha-Neul","middleName":"","lastName":"Ahn","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-18 05:54:02","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8906070/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8906070/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":107627874,"identity":"b204385f-a948-4a54-a846-7c84403e72e8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-23 10:57:14","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":296020,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ScientificReportsrevised.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8906070/v1_covered_380ed3fe-c77b-4470-84e8-acc78ce9e3af.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Navigating Psychological Boundaries: A Boundary-Aware Interaction Policy for Adaptive Service Robots in Exhibitions","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8906070/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8906070/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"While service robots in exhibition spaces are evolving into social agents that mediate visitor experiences beyond mere information delivery, the service paradox remains a persistent challenge where unsolicited proactive interventions diminish visitor satisfaction. 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