Robots Becoming Part of the Family

LiveScience
reports that a new NSF study on the social impact of robots reveals
that the iRobot Roomba is becoming part of the families who buy it.
While people sometimes noted that the Roomba wasn't ideally suited to
cleaning their house, they frequently named the robots and treated them
as if
they had personalities. The study also revealed that pets reacted to the
robots in much the same way as the humans. One cat became friends with
the Roomba, sitting near it to keep it company. A geriatric dog was
reported to be scared of the Roomba. One family noted that letting their
daughter "adopt" the Roomba result her cleaning her room much more
frequently. This research was done by Jodi Forlizzi who has done previous studies of
Human-Robot interaction.



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