(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010)
Sung, Ja-Young; Grinter, Rebecca E.; Christensen, Henrik I.
It has been recognized that long-term effects exist in the interaction with robotic technologies. Despite this recognition, we still know little about how the temporal effects are associated with domestic robots. To bridge this gap, we undertook a long-term field study. We distributed Roomba vacuuming robots to 30 households, and observed the use over six months. During this study, which spans over 149 home visits, we identified how householders accepted robots as a part of the households via four temporal stages of pre-adoption, adoption, adaptation, and use/retention. With these findings, we took the first step toward establishing a framework, Domestic Robot Ecology (DRE). It shows a holistic view on the relationships that robots shape in the home. Further, it articulates how those relationships change over time. We suggest that DRE can become a useful tool to help design toward long-term acceptance of robotic technologies in the home.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-09)
Sung, Ja-Young; Grinter, Rebecca E.; Christensen, Henrik I.
In this paper, we discuss a user-centered vision of
future domestic robots based on 48 householders' depiction of
their ideal home robots. Through users' creative responses, we
aim to identify domestic tasks desired for robotic assistance, and
hence guide the design effort to better reflect user needs. Our
study results show that householders want domestic robots for
tasks including Time-consuming Drudgeries, House-sitting, and
Personal Attendance. Further, we present three design lessons
we learned to increase householders' acceptance of these robots.
The design of domestic robots needs to provide a certain amount
of human control, be compatible with the user's domestic
environment, and take gender into consideration.