Social robot – Jack of all trades?

Abstract

Social robots have been used in different roles, for example, in caregiving, companionship, and as a therapy tool, in recent years – with growing tendency. Although we still know little about factors that influence robots’ acceptance, studies have shown that robots are possible social companions for humans that help overcome loneliness, among other use cases. Especially in the given situation of forced social isolation, social companions are needed. This social gap might be filled by robots. We hypothesized that loneliness and the need to belong increase acceptance of social robots.

Keywords

• acceptance
• covid-19
• loneliness
• need to belong
• social robots