Users draw on four sources to judge a robot’s

competence: (1) the robot’s voice, (2) physical appearance of

and (3) the interaction experience with the robot but also (4)

the relationship between the robot’s physical appearance and

its conduct. Furthermore, most approaches in social robotics

have an outcome-oriented focus and thus use questionnaires

to measure a global evaluation of the robot after interaction

took place. The present research takes a process-oriented

approach to explore the factors relevant in the formation of

users’ attitudes toward the robot. To do so, an ethnographic

approach (Conversation Analysis) was employed to analyze the

micro-coordination between user and robot. We report initial

findings from a study in which a robot took the role of a

fitness instructor. Our results emphasize that the participant

judges step-by-step the robot’s capabilities and differentiates

its competence on two levels regarding to the robot’s role: a

robot as a (1) social/interactional co-participant and as a (2)

fitness instructor.