Loss of interest by user

In HRI literature, the “novelty effect” is frequently discussed, where people tend to pay more attention to and prefer to use a new and unfamiliar entity, however, the effect usually doesn’t last very long. Various robot applications have been tested in research settings, and the novelty effect has been observed to last from a few minutes to a few months at most. Therefore, even if positive outcomes are seen in a one-time experiment involving a robot, it is uncertain whether the effect will last over the long term. Longitudinal studies are required to provide evidence for positive HRI outcomes over time.

Read more about why it is important to design robots that can maintain users’ interest across multiple interactions and over time:

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.0707769104

Read more about relevant studies that examine the novelty effect:

https://doi.org/10.1109/ROMAN.2007.4415149

References

Bartneck, C. et al. (2020) Human-Robot Interaction: An Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108676649.