<![CDATA[This investigation investigates the extent to which proactive behaviours in interactive objects—specifically animated eyes that exhibit behaviours such as blinking and turning—improve user interaction. Through a two-phase process, we investigate the influence of these behaviors on users’ perceptions of proactivity in both physical and virtual environments. In Phase I, we conducted a real-world study using a tangible box with animated eyes to evaluate user responses to expressive behaviours in single- and multi-person interactions. The results indicate that blinking significantly improves perceptions of the box’s intentionality and engagement, thereby fostering a more robust sense of proactivity. Phase II expands this investigation to a virtual environment, where 240 participants on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) participated, thereby validating the real-world findings. The online study confirms that perceived proactivity is consistently increased across contexts by blinking and turning. These findings indicate that integrating basic, human-like behaviors into interactive systems can enhance user engagement and provide practical advice for the development of sustainable, low-complexity interactive technologies. These discoveries facilitate the future development of resource-efficient and accessible human-computer interaction and robotic systems by simulating intentionality through minimal behavior.]]>
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