Article published in:
Interaction Studies
Vol. 17:3 (2016) ► pp. 461–490

Long-term evaluation of a social robot in real homes

| University of Twente, The Netherlands
| Saxion University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
| University of Twente, The Netherlands
This study aims to contribute to emerging human-robot interaction research by adding longitudinal findings to a limited number of long-term social robotics home studies. We placed 70 robots in users’ homes for a period of up to six months, and used questionnaires and interviews to collect data at six points during this period. Results indicate that users’ evaluations of the robot dropped initially, but later rose after the robot had been used for a longer period of time. This is congruent with the so-called mere-exposure effect, which shows an increasing positive evaluation of a novel stimulus once people become familiar with it. Before adoption, users focus on control beliefs showing that previous experiences with robots or other technologies allows to create a mental image of what having and using a robot in the home would entail. After adoption, users focus on utilitarian and hedonic attitudes showing that especially usefulness, social presence, enjoyment and attractiveness are important factors for long-term acceptance.
Keywords: domestic environment, human-robot interaction, long-term study, social robots, user acceptance
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The long-term acceptance process
    • 2.1Expectation phase
    • 2.2Encounter phase
    • 2.3Adoption phase
    • 2.4Adaptation phase
    • 2.5Integration phase
    • 2.6Identification phase
  • 3.Related studies
  • 4.Method
    • 4.1Robot
    • 4.2Participants
    • 4.3Instruments
    • 4.4Data collection and procedure
    • 4.5Data analysis
  • Results
    • 5.1Use over time
    • 5.2Quantitative results on the acceptance variables
    • 5.2Qualitative results on the acceptance variables
      • Usefulness
      • Ease of use
      • Adaptability
      • Reliability
      • Intelligence
      • Diversity of use
      • Enjoyment
      • Attractiveness
      • Animacy
      • Social presence
      • Sociability
      • Companionship
      • Social influence
      • Media influence
      • Status
      • Trust
      • Privacy
      • Self-efficacy
      • Previous experiences
      • Prior expectations
      • Cost
      • Situational factors
  • 6.Discussion
    • Limitations
  • 7.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 30 March 2017
https://doi.org/10.1075/is.17.3.08deg
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