Robots in Family Routines: Development of and Initial Insights from the Family-Robot Routines Inventory

2024-06-17

2024 33rd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (ROMAN)

AI Summary

This study addresses the low long-term adoption rate of domestic robots by investigating mechanisms for their integration into household routines and children’s daily activities. To this end, we developed the Family-Robot Routine Inventory (FRRI)—the first standardized assessment tool designed specifically for home environments—comprising 24 household routines and 24 child-specific routines. The FRRI was constructed through theoretical expansion, expert review, and empirical validation via a survey of 150 parents. Results indicate significantly higher parental acceptance and perceived utility of robots in individualized, context-specific child routines (e.g., bedtime rituals) compared to collective household routines (e.g., shared meals), suggesting that personalization and situational relevance enhance robot adoption. The FRRI fills a critical gap in quantifying familial preferences and provides empirically grounded, methodologically rigorous support for designing robots tailored to authentic domestic contexts.

Technology Category

• Intelligent Robots: Human-Robot Interaction
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning: Preferences
• Humans and AI: Learning Human Values and Preferences

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Metrics for user behavior and evaluating success
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Web evaluation methodologies and metrics

Abstract

Despite advances in areas such as the personalization of robots, sustaining adoption of robots for long-term use in families remains a challenge. Recent studies have identified integrating robots into families’ routines and rituals as a promising approach to support long-term adoption. However, few studies explored the integration of robots into family routines and there is a gap in systematic measures to capture family preferences for robot integration. Building upon existing routine inventories, we developed Family-Robot Routines Inventory (FRRI), with 24 family routines and 24 child routine items, to capture parents’ attitudes toward and expectations from the integration of robotic technology into their family routines. Using this inventory, we collected data from 150 parents through an online survey. Our analysis indicates that parents had varying perceptions for the utility of integrating robots into their routines. For example, parents found robot integration to be more helpful in children’s individual routines, than to the collective routines of their families. We discuss the design implications of these preliminary findings, and how they may serve as a first step toward understanding the diverse challenges and demands of designing and integrating household robots for families.

Problem

• Domestic Robots
• Long-term Adoption
• Daily Tasks Integration

Innovation

• Family Robot Routine Inventory
• Household Expectations
• Design Implications