Social Companion Robots to Reduce Isolation: A Perception Change Due to COVID-19

Ghafurian, Moojan; Ellard, Colin G.; Dautenhahn, Kerstin

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-85616-8_4

Cited by 32 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 48 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…We consider each of the three BPN as highly relevant to the context of AI. With regard to the Need for Relatedness, research shows that robots can help to reduce loneliness ( Ghafurian et al, 2021 ) and lead to attachment to AI systems in times of social isolation ( Xie and Pentina, 2022 ). Contrarily, it has been reported that use of technologies can to lead to an increase in social isolation ( Muhammad et al, 2019 ).…”

Section: Basic Psychological Needs Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Men Have No Need for “Feminist” Artificial Intelligence? Agentic and Gendered Voice Assistants in the Light of Basic Psychological Needs

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is supposed to perform tasks autonomously, make competent decisions, and interact socially with people. From a psychological perspective, AI can thus be expected to impact users’ three Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs), namely (i) autonomy, (ii) competence, and (iii) relatedness to others. While research highlights the fulfillment of these needs as central to human motivation and well-being, their role in the acceptance of AI applications has hitherto received little consideration. Addressing this research gap, our study examined the influence of BPN Satisfaction on Intention to Use (ITU) an AI assistant for personal banking. In a 2×2 factorial online experiment, 282 participants (154 males, 126 females, two non-binary participants) watched a video of an AI finance coach with a female or male synthetic voice that exhibited either high or low agency (i.e., capacity for self-control). In combination, these factors resulted either in AI assistants conforming to traditional gender stereotypes (e.g., low-agency female) or in non-conforming conditions (e.g., high-agency female). Although the experimental manipulations had no significant influence on participants’ relatedness and competence satisfaction, a strong effect on autonomy satisfaction was found. As further analyses revealed, this effect was attributable only to male participants, who felt their autonomy need significantly more satisfied by the low-agency female assistant, consistent with stereotypical images of women, than by the high-agency female assistant. A significant indirect effects model showed that the greater autonomy satisfaction that men, unlike women, experienced from the low-agency female assistant led to higher ITU. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical relevance and the risk of reproducing traditional gender stereotypes through technology design.

show abstract

Section: Basic Psychological Needs Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Men Have No Need for “Feminist” Artificial Intelligence? Agentic and Gendered Voice Assistants in the Light of Basic Psychological Needs

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“… 22 In situations where human contact is restricted or prohibited, such as during a pandemic, SARs can help minimize the health risks for healthcare staff and vulnerable older adults. 45 , 46 Post-pandemic, the adoption of SARs can continue to help support staff and residents with specific repetitive tasks in a multimodal interactive way. SARs have a significant potential to help with repetitive tasks if we design them to meet the specific needs of users, both during COVID-19 and post-pandemic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The adoption of socially assistive robots for long-term care: During COVID-19 and in a post-pandemic society

Getson

Nejat

2022

Healthc Manage Forum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has prompted a surge in the adoption of technology, highlighting a number of potential applications for Socially Assistive Robots (SARs). Our entire healthcare system has been under unprecedented strain, and going forward, we must consider how robotic technology could help improve the quality of care and day-to-day functionality of our care facilities. Herein, we present our human-robot interaction study in a local long-term care centre during the pandemic and the lessons learned from deploying a SAR to screen staff members. We investigate staff acceptance and the influence of demographics on perceptions of the SAR. Results show that overall, staff were positive about the screening robot, and that autonomous screening with a social robot is a potential application in long-term care homes. We further detail the challenges and future opportunities to develop SARs, including recommendations to successfully implement and adopt these robots in a post-pandemic society.

show abstract

“…In this vein, the embodiment of a robot establishes material constraints on the ways in which it can (re)act in the world, but it also represents an affordance with regard to its interaction with consumers (Paauwe et al, 2015), whatever these interactions might be. Ghafurian, Ellard and Dautenhahn (2021), for example, found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer robots played a meaningful role in people's ability to cope with social isolation. These machines served as social companions and helped reduce the feeling of loneliness, which led to consumers' perceptions of robots changing, and to a wish to purchase them in the future.…”

Section: Human-robot Interactions (Hri)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-dyadic human–robot interactions and online brand communities

Lima

Zanini

Irígaray

2022

MIP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeThis research investigates and conceptualizes non-dyadic human–robot interactions (HRI).Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a netnographic study of the Facebook group called “iRobot – Roomba,” an online brand community dedicated to Roomba vacuums. Their data analysis employed an abductive approach, which extended the grounded theory method.FindingsDyadic portrayals of human–robot interactions can be expanded to consider other actants that are relevant to the consumption experiences of consumer robots. Not only humans but also nonhumans, such as an online brand community, have a meaningful role to play in shaping interactions between humans and robots.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study moves theoretical discussions on HRI from the individual level grounded in a purely psychological approach to a more collective and sociocultural approach.Practical implicationsIf managers do not have a proper assessment of human–robot interactions that considers different actants and their role in the socio-technical arrangement, they will find it more challenging to design and suggest new consumption experiences.Originality/valueUnlike most previous marketing and consumer research on human–robot interactions, we show that different actants exert agency in different ways, at different times and with different socio-technical arrangements.

show abstract

Social Companion Robots to Reduce Isolation: A Perception Change Due to COVID-19

Cited by 32 publications

References 48 publications

Do Men Have No Need for “Feminist” Artificial Intelligence? Agentic and Gendered Voice Assistants in the Light of Basic Psychological Needs

Do Men Have No Need for “Feminist” Artificial Intelligence? Agentic and Gendered Voice Assistants in the Light of Basic Psychological Needs

The adoption of socially assistive robots for long-term care: During COVID-19 and in a post-pandemic society

Non-dyadic human–robot interactions and online brand communities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About