GA Tech Researchers Study Human-Robot Relationship

By Odette Yousef

Atlanta, GA – People name them, they dress them rearrange their homes to accommodate them. No, they're not children or pets they're vacuum cleaners.

Two Georgia Tech researchers have found that when it comes to Roombas - self-navigating vacuum cleaners - the emotional attachments can run deep.

Georgia Tech associate professor Beki Grinter was fascinated by how people described their Roombas in online chat rooms:

GRINTER: People write about them, and they tell other people how much they love their robots, and how Rosie got her name and all these other kinds of things.

Grinter and graduate student Ja-Young Sung analyzed the internet comments, and interviewed thirty Roomba owners. Grinter says that this technology's ability to move may prompt people to relate to it like a living creature:

GRINTER: We think that actually makes them more able to deal with the fact that the robot can't always get it quite right, does get tangled up, does need assistance, in some sense.

Grinter hopes the findings will spur more research into how to foster human-robot relationships.