Do Robots Have to be Human-Like? A Practice-Based Perspective on Relating to Robots In-the-Wild

Human-robot interaction has predominately applied a psychological lens to understanding how humans relate to robots, often referred to as anthropomorphism. However, this lens backgrounds the context-dependent and emerging ways humans relate to robots in real-world work settings. We draw on 17 qualitative interviews from an in-the-wild study of restaurant workers who interacted with autonomous mobile delivery robots for up to four years. Using practice theory, we shift focus from how workers perceive particular robot features towards examining the situated ways robotic features manifest as meaningful to workers for performing work. Our analysis highlights three dimensions of work that shape workers’ relationship with robots: temporality, physical space, and materiality. We argue that a practice-based approach offers actionable insights for designing robots, whether anthropomorphic or otherwise, to integrate into holistic, situated work environments, look beyond isolated task-based use, and effectively support workers’ needs.