Social robots in the real world: an analysis of social robot use based on consumer reviews

Social robots (SR) are increasingly developed to support users’ mental health needs. Previous research suggests that potential benefits of interacting with SR include reduction in depressive symptoms, loneliness and improved quality of life. Despite the promising impact of short-term robot use, little is known about how SRs are used beyond short interaction in the research environment, and what spontaneous robot adoption looks like. Thus, in this study we set out to address this gap through an analysis of user-generated robot reviews. We analysed online reviews of commercially available SRs to characterise their impact and user experience. We used qualitative content analysis to extract salient themes from 1350 user-generated reviews, supplemented by sentiment analysis of the full sample of 9333 reviews. The content analysis revealed a list of SR use cases, user circumstances and characteristics, the impact of using the robots and ethical challenges experienced by users. The results suggest that self-reported benefits, such as improved mood, reduced depression and loneliness, are maintained through long-term robot use. This study provides a novel qualitative insight into user experiences and SR use in the real world that will inform future robotic development and implementation efforts.