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Auteurs principaux: Wilson, Bruce W., Robb, David A., Lim, Mei Yii, Hastie, Helen, Aylett, Matthew Peter, Georgiou, Theodoros
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
Sujets:
Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16336
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author Wilson, Bruce W.
Robb, David A.
Lim, Mei Yii
Hastie, Helen
Aylett, Matthew Peter
Georgiou, Theodoros
author_facet Wilson, Bruce W.
Robb, David A.
Lim, Mei Yii
Hastie, Helen
Aylett, Matthew Peter
Georgiou, Theodoros
contents We set out to study whether task-based narratives could influence long-term engagement with a service robot. To do so, we deployed a Robo-Barista for five weeks in an over-50's housing complex in Stockton, England. Residents received a free daily coffee by interacting with a Furhat robot assigned to either a narrative or non-narrative dialogue condition. Despite designing for sustained engagement, repeat interaction was low, and we encountered curiosity trials without retention, technical breakdowns, accessibility barriers, and the social dynamics of a housing complex setting. Rather than treating these as peripheral issues, we foreground them in this paper. We reflect on the in-the-wild realities of our experiment and offer lessons for conducting longitudinal Human-Robot Interaction research when studies unravel in practice.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_16336
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Faulty Coffees: Barriers to Adoption of an In-the-wild Robo-Barista
Wilson, Bruce W.
Robb, David A.
Lim, Mei Yii
Hastie, Helen
Aylett, Matthew Peter
Georgiou, Theodoros
Robotics
I.2.9; H.5
We set out to study whether task-based narratives could influence long-term engagement with a service robot. To do so, we deployed a Robo-Barista for five weeks in an over-50's housing complex in Stockton, England. Residents received a free daily coffee by interacting with a Furhat robot assigned to either a narrative or non-narrative dialogue condition. Despite designing for sustained engagement, repeat interaction was low, and we encountered curiosity trials without retention, technical breakdowns, accessibility barriers, and the social dynamics of a housing complex setting. Rather than treating these as peripheral issues, we foreground them in this paper. We reflect on the in-the-wild realities of our experiment and offer lessons for conducting longitudinal Human-Robot Interaction research when studies unravel in practice.
title Faulty Coffees: Barriers to Adoption of an In-the-wild Robo-Barista
topic Robotics
I.2.9; H.5
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.16336