Examining Attachment to Robots: Benefits, Challenges, and Alternatives

Abstract

Potential applications of robots in private and public human spaces have prompted the design of so-called “social robots” that can interact with humans in social settings and potentially cause humans to attach to the robots. The focus of this paper is an analysis of possible benefits and challenges arising from such human-robot attachment as reported in the HRI literature, followed by guidelines for the use and the design of robots that might elicit attachment bonds. We start by analyzing the potential benefits for humans becoming attached to robots, which might include increased natural interaction, effectiveness and acceptance of the robot, social companionship, and well-being for the human. Turning to the potential risks associated with human-robot attachment, we discuss the possibly suboptimal use of the robot in the most benign cases, but also the potential formation of unidirectional emotional bonds, and the potential for deception and subconscious influence of the robot on the person in more severe cases. The upshot of the analysis then is a recommendation to reconceptualize relationships with social robots in an attempt to retain potential benefits of human-robot attachment, while mitigating (to the extent possible) its downsides.

Beyond the global attachment model: domain- and relationship-specific attachment models at work and their functions

“…The theory talks about various objects, but empirically we have confirmed a few of them. However, there are some new tips on attachment objects, for example, attachment to robots ( You and Robert, 2018 ; Law et al, 2022 ). This is a very new area of attachment research.…”

Attachment to robots and therapeutic efficiency in mental health

“…We can only speak about robot-led psychotherapy if the “robot therapist” can accomplish these requirements for attachment. Various studies show that social robots prompt people to develop emotional bonds ( Sharkey and Sharkey, 2021 ; Law et al, 2022 ), and it is also known that forming strong emotional bonds often leads to the development of attachment relations ( Bowlby, 1982 ; Cassidy and Shaver, 2016 ) and that physical availability and emotional connection are the two main communication channels that are relevant in attachment formation ( Gagliardi, 2021 ). However, it is still an open question whether the features of this kind of attachment are suitable for reaching the full potential of psychotherapy.…”

Current Landscape and Future Directions for Mental Health Conversational Agents (CAs) for Youth: Scoping Review (Preprint)

“…One is on the human-like traits of CAs; while youth prefer human-like traits of CAs, existing research documented safety concerns toward the humanness of CAs. For instance, prior research shows that younger youth may lose vital human contact [72] or unintentionally share personal information with CAs [73] if they become too attached to human-like CAs. Therefore, in some studies we reviewed, CAs were designed with non-human-like avatars (e.g., [23,25,30,34]) or there were safety features to clearly state that the CAs are not human agents (e.g., [4,27,33,35,43,47,54]).…”