Robots at home: Understanding long-term human-robot interaction

Human-robot interaction (HRI) is now well enough understood to allow us to build useful systems that can function outside of the laboratory. We are studying long-term interaction in natural user environments and describe the implementation of a robot designed to help individuals effect behavior change while dieting. Our robotic weight loss coach is compared to a standalone computer and a paper log in a controlled study. We describe the software model used to create successful long-term HRI. We summarize the experimental design, analysis, and results of our study, the first where a sociable robot interacts with a user to achieve behavior change. Results show that participants track their calorie consumption and exercise for nearly twice as long when using the robot than with the other methods and develop a closer relationship with the robot. Both are indicators of longer-term success at weight loss and maintenance and show the effectiveness of sociable robots for long-term HRI.