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About

Rebecca E. Grinter is a prominent researcher whose work sits at the intersection of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) and domestic technology, with a particular focus on how everyday people integrate robotic appliances into their home lives. Her research has fundamentally shaped our understanding of the social and emotional dimensions of living with robots, moving the field beyond laboratory settings into the messy, authentic complexity of real households. Grinter's most celebrated contributions center on the iRobot Roomba, examining how homeowners develop genuine intimacy with their vacuuming robots — a body of work that has accumulated over 500 citations across multiple publications. Her studies revealed that users anthropomorphize, personalize ("Pimp My Roomba"), and form lasting attachments to these devices, challenging assumptions about purely functional human-machine relationships. Her 2010 paper on evaluating HRI (231 citations) further established methodological foundations for the field at large. Crucially, Grinter investigated long-term adoption patterns and novelty effects, asking what happens after the initial excitement fades — a question with lasting implications for robot design. Her demographic surveys of Roomba owners also challenged stereotypes about who adopts domestic robots. With hundreds of citations and a rich empirical legacy, Grinter's work remains essential reading for anyone studying robots in everyday life.