Robots Versus Speakers: What Type of Central Smart Home Interface Consumers Prefer?

In smart home environments, central interfaces that take commands from users and give orders to each relevant device appropriately are increasingly important. We investigated the type of central interface that consumers are more willing to adopt and whether these interfaces enhance the evaluation of services provided by smart home devices. This study confirms that speaker interfaces are preferred over social robots, speaker interfaces are perceived by users as more persuasive, and the adoption of central interfaces increases the overall service evaluation.