Robots in the wild

Abstract

It has long been recognized that novelty effects exist in the interaction with technologies. Despite this recognition, we still know little about the novelty effects associated with domestic robotic appliances and more importantly, what occurs after the novelty wears off. To address this gap, we undertook a longitudinal field study with 30 households to which we gave Roomba vacuuming robots and then observed use over six months. During this study, which spans over 149 home visits, we encountered methodological challenges in understanding households' usage patterns. In this paper we report on our longitudinal research, focusing particularly on the methods that we used 1) to understand human-robot interaction over time despite the constraints of privacy and temporality in the home, and 2) to uncover information when routines became less conscious to the participants themselves.