EnviRobots: How Human–Robot Interaction Can Facilitate Sustainable Behavior

Abstract

Environmental psychology aims to study human behavior with regard to the environment and how psychological techniques can be used to motivate behavior change. We argue that these concepts can be applied to interactive robots designed for other tasks, which then enables them to encourage sustainability behaviors in humans. We first present a literature review on the current state of social robots that are used to encourage sustainable behaviors. We next present eight hypothetical scenarios which are informed by the progress that has already been made in social robots in sustainability, as well as notable gaps where further environmental psychological concepts could be utilized. These scenarios encompass possible robots that range from limited sensing and no manipulation capabilities, to more sophisticated sensing and no manipulation, to sophisticated sensing and manipulation capabilities. We present these scenarios in which human–robot interaction could potentially result in pro-environmental behavioral changes in humans as recommendations for robot designers interested in helping design social robots for sustainability.

What Affects the Acceptance and Use of Hotel Service Robots by Elderly Customers?

“…From the perspective of environmental psychology, Scheutz et al [87] explored the possibility of different social robots encouraging people to conduct sustainable behaviors in hypothetical scenarios, such as dishwashing or cooking in the home kitchen, enterprise or home energy monitoring, laundromat and cafeteria. The machines in these situations need to have a certain social sensibility.…”

Virtual reality‐facilitated engineering education: A case study on sustainable systems knowledge

“…The team utilized a social robot as the gaming interface and observed encouraging attitude changes in participating children. Scheutz et al [60] also proposed that social robots had the potential to enhance human sustainability knowledge and behavior in different scenarios. Both projects demonstrated the impact of human–computer interaction in education and behavior change.…”