%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Social Companion Robots to Reduce Isolation: A Perception Change Due to COVID-19
%+ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering [Waterloo] (ECE)
%+ University of Waterloo [Waterloo]
%+ Department of Systems Design Engineering [University of Waterloo]
%A Ghafurian, Moojan
%A Ellard, Colin
%A Dautenhahn, Kerstin
%Z Part 1: COVID-19 and HCI
%< avec comité de lecture
%@ 978-3-030-85615-1
%( Lecture Notes in Computer Science
%B 18th IFIP Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT)
%C Bari, Italy
%Y Carmelo Ardito
%Y Rosa Lanzilotti
%Y Alessio Malizia
%Y Helen Petrie
%Y Antonio Piccinno
%Y Giuseppe Desolda
%Y Kori Inkpen
%I Springer International Publishing
%3 Human-Computer Interaction – INTERACT 2021
%V LNCS-12933
%N Part II
%P 43-63
%8 2021-08-30
%D 2021
%R 10.1007/978-3-030-85616-8_4
%Z Computer Science [cs]Conference papers
%X Social isolation is one of the negative consequences of a pandemic like COVID-19. Social isolation and loneliness are not only experienced by older adults, but also by younger people who live alone and cannot communicate with others or get involved in social situations as they used to. In such situations, social companion robots might have the potential to reduce social isolation and increase well-being. However, society’s perception of social robots has not always been positive. In this paper, we conducted two online experiments with 102 and 132 participants during the self isolation periods of COVID-19 (May-June 2020 and January 2021), to study how COVID-19 has affected people’s perception of the benefits of a social robot. Our results showed that a change caused by COVID-19, as well as having an older relative who lived alone or at a care center during the pandemic significantly and positively affected people’s perception of social robots, as companions, and that the feeling of loneliness can drive the purchase of a social robot. The second study replicated the results of the first study. We also discuss the effects of Big 5 personality traits on the likelihood to purchase a social robot, as well as on participants’ general attitude towards COVID-19 and adapting to the pandemic.
%G English
%Z TC 13
%2 https://inria.hal.science/hal-04196848/document
%2 https://inria.hal.science/hal-04196848/file/520516_1_En_4_Chapter.pdf
%L hal-04196848
%U https://inria.hal.science/hal-04196848
%~ LORIA2
%~ IFIP-LNCS
%~ IFIP
%~ IFIP-TC13
%~ IFIP-INTERACT
%~ IFIP-LNCS-12933