# Disambiguating Anthropomorphism and Anthropomimesis in Human-Robot Interaction

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09287 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.09287/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 10 Feb 2026.

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

- [Anthropomorphism in the age of Large Language Models: An overview of potential risks and mitigations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.38486/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In this preliminary work, we offer an initial disambiguation of the theoretical concepts anthropomorphism and anthropomimesis in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and social robotics. We define anthropomorphism as users perceiving human-like qualities in robots, and anthropomimesis as robot developers designing human-like features into robots. This contribution aims to provide a clarification and exploration of these concepts for future HRI scholarship, particularly regarding the party responsible for human-like qualities - robot perceiver for anthropomorphism, and robot designer for anthropomimesis. We provide this contribution so that researchers can build on these disambiguated theoretical concepts for future robot design and evaluation.