# Exercise with Social Robots: Companion or Coach?

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.12940 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.12940/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 24 Mar 2021.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [When Workout Buddies Are Virtual: AI Agents and Human Peers in a Longitudinal Physical Activity Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.01918/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this paper, we investigate the roles that social robots can take in physical exercise with human partners. In related work, robots or virtual intelligent agents take the role of a coach or instructor whereas in other approaches they are used as motivational aids. These are two "paradigms", so to speak, within the small but growing area of robots for social exercise. We designed an online questionnaire to test whether the preferred role in which people want to see robots would be the companion or the coach. The questionnaire asks people to imagine working out with a robot with the help of three utilized questionnaires: (1) CART-Q which is used for judging coach-athlete relationships, (2) the mind perception questionnaire and (3) the System Usability Scale (SUS). We present the methodology, some preliminary results as well as our intended future work on personal robots for coaching.