Interactions - March/April 2012

a socially positive role. One participant said, “It provides a subject of conversation at work with your colleagues or when you have guests at home.” Another important point is that we did not encounter any negative prejudice toward robots. Roomba was often described as being “cute” and “friendly with its round shape.” Within families themselves, household members influenced each other. For instance, in one family, on the first day the father had declared that a vacuum cleaner like Roomba would never perform as well as a classical vacuum: “It does not have as many watts.” This family never really adopted Roomba. A quantitative analysis of our results confirmed that being part of a particular household influences how you perceive the robot [ 6].

Factor 7: Economic utility. We offered Roomba for free as a reward for participating in our research. The price was therefore not a barrier to entry. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, we believe that if people had to pay for Roomba, price could have been one of the main adoption hurdles (the average price is around $400). For example, one of our participants said, “I am not sure I would have paid that much. When you buy Miele, you know what you get.” Establishing the brand as a quality brand is a challenge. One of our participants suggested that shops should enable potential buyers to try it out for a few days. Cost of replacement of spare parts and the longevity of the battery were also often mentioned as potential issues to consider when buying Roomba or even using it further.

• Figure 2. “Roombarization” while using Roomba.

did not have to change their habits in order to use Roomba. One of our participants was fond of art and books. She had many statues she had sculpted herself on the floor, as well as piles of books. Other users liked eating in their living room and would leave trays on the floor with, for instance, marmalade on them. Why would they change their habits of reading from the piles of books on the floor or eating in their living room for a vacuum cleaner? Why would they give up the pleasure of being surrounded by art?

Factor 5: Emotional relationship to
technology. Emotional relationship
to technology can be summarized
under two categories: hedonism and
communicating with technology. In
terms of hedonism, nearly all of our
participants manifested enthusiasm
when we brought them Roomba,
especially children (e.g., one wel-
comed us wearing a T-shirt with
a robot on it). In the first weeks of
adoption, Roomba generated enthu-
siasm because of its erratic and
surprising movements. One adult
liked how Roomba would drive back
into its docking station: “It looks like
a Star Wars spaceship.” Some kids
invented a laser game and a “robot
show.” Nevertheless, the enthusiasm
faded quickly. Only a few younger
children (up to five years old) went
on playing with it. Pets were indif-
ferent to Roomba or evolved over
time from angry or afraid to indif-
ferent. We did not observe the
famous You Tube “Roomba cat stroll”
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
ewdbilSWjaM&feature=related).