Can socially assistive robots be used to help people develop healthy habits?

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Socially assistive robots (SAR) describes robots that provide assistance to human users through social rather than physical interaction [1]. SAR encompasses HRI, social, rehabilitation and service robotics [2]. The applications of SAR can include helping motivate participants to engage and comply in tasks such as education, well-being and health [3]-[5]. However, the effectiveness of such robots in these areas is very much dependent on the robot's ability to persuade the participant. Where persuasion is an activity that involves the persuader (robot) trying to change the mental state of the persuadee (human) [6].Previous work done has focused on investigating a SAR's ability to motivate participants to stay engaged during a task by providing encouragement [5]. Although, active participation during a training session is essential there hasn't been much work done in using robots to form longlasting habits. Where habits are a person's automatic response to a frequently encountered context [7]. Healthy habits can include drinking a glass of water at breakfast or going for a walk after lunch.Additionally, there haven't been many longitudinal studies on the effect of long exposure to persuasive SAR outside of a controlled setting. A two-week field study to teach Japanese children English using a robot showed a rapid decline in engagement with the robot on the second week [8]. While different four month user experience study in primary school to teach language to children showed there was more engagement with the robot when they received a reward from the robot for correct answers such as lighting up eyes or clapping hands [9]. As a result, identifying the mechanisms for maintaining a long-term relationship is a crucial area of for HRI that needs further study. This will include identifying whether the robot needs to adapt/evolve its responses over weeks or months to maintain high engagement.There are many verbal and non-verbal immediacies identified from human behaviour research that play a part in persuasion, these include but are not limited to gaze, gesture and facial expression [10]. During the initial stages of the PhD an investigation into human psychology models of persuasion will need to be done to identify which persuasive strategies will be usedand whether persuasive strategies need to be tailored for individuals.