Repeated chats with Pepper helped people open up and feel less lonely

Guy Laban and Emily Cross at the University of Glasgow had 39 UK participants talk to a Pepper robot, operated behind the scenes by a researcher, over Zoom ten times across five weeks during the pandemic. Over time people spoke for longer, shared more, saw the robot as more social and competent, and reported better mood and less loneliness. A secondary analysis found that people who were low, lonely, stressed or introverted were more likely to open up. Published in the International Journal of Social Robotics, it supports the idea of robots as low-stakes listeners for emotional wellbeing.

Source: Tech Xplore