Lara Timm

The use of social robots in public facilities is increasingly being considered to reduce employees’ workload and requires citizens to engage in human-robot interactions. Based on the paradigm of Positive Computing , the motivation to interact with robots can be supported by increasing citizens’ well-being during the interaction. According to Self-determination Theory, this well-being depends on the satisfaction of people’s basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, a lack of research exists on the abilities of publicly used robots to address these needs, particularly regarding diverse audiences. To address this research gap, a field study was conducted in two public libraries ( N = 65), in which participants interacted with a social robot that recommended books and read passages from them aloud. Results reveal that people’s general attitudes toward robots were positively related to how well the robot satisfied needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and showed that women felt less competent in the interaction than men. Interview data complement these findings by showing that insufficient responses and the robot’s rigid way of interacting are connected to a reduced perception of users’ competence. In contrast, a successful, easy interaction and responses to user input were described as reasons for increased perceptions of competence and autonomy, while relatedness was experienced as a difficult concept to grasp. Overall, these findings show that social robots in public places can satisfy users’ basic psychological needs and that user- and robot-related characteristics influence this satisfaction.

Employing social robots in public spaces to support employees at work is a frequently discussed scenario. However, the success of robotic systems often depends on people’s willingness to initiate interactions with them. This makes understanding people’s usage decisions crucial, yet only limited research has been done on why people select publicly accessible social robots over alternatives, such as human employees. Amongst various factors, people’s diversity characteristics are likely to influence this decision, such as people’s locus of control when using technology and their self-efficacy in human-robot interaction. To investigate this choice for or against using a robot, a field study (N = 65) was conducted in two public libraries in the Ruhr area (Germany). Participants had to decide to interact with a robot or an employee and were subsequently asked to explain their decision via a questionnaire and an interview. Results reveal that the decision could neither be explained by people’s locus of control when using technology nor by other diversity characteristics. Furthermore, no significant differences in self-efficacy in human-robot interaction between users who chose the robot instead of the human employee were found. Finally, the qualitative findings point to general interest in robots and people’s differences in dealing with novelty as reasons for their choice. Overall, our findings offer insights into the decision for or against the usage of a robot, which are relevant to both, research and the deployment of social robots in public spaces.

The use of Augmented Reality glasses opens up many possibilities in hospital care, as they facilitate treatments and their documentation. In this paper, we present a prototype for the HoloLens 2 supporting wound care and documentation. It was developed in a participatory process with nurses using the positive computing paradigm, with a focus on the improvement of the working conditions of nursing staff. In a qualitative study with 14 participants, the factors of autonomy, competence and connectedness were examined in particular. It was shown that good individual adaptability and flexibility of the system with respect to the work task and personal preferences lead to a high degree of autonomy. The availability of the right information at the right time strengthens the feeling of competence. On the one hand, the connection to patients is increased by the additional information in the glasses, but on the other hand, it is hindered by the unusual appearance of the device and the lack of eye contact. In summary, the potential of Augmented Reality glasses in care was confirmed, and approaches for a well-being-centered system design were identified but, at the same time, a number of future research questions, including the effects on patients, were also identified.