Role-taking and robotic form: an exploratory study of social connection in human-robot interaction

•Participants ascribe role-taking capacities to both humans and robots.•Perceptions of role-taking accuracy vary between humanoid vs non-humanoid robots.•Interpersonal factors, rather than robotic form, affect social bonding and relationship endurance.•Findings seed future research about the pathways from robotic form, through role-taking, towards socio-emotional outcomes.