Care and Learning in Human-Robot Interaction: Psychological Mechanisms and Well-being

This study extends the concept of Human-Object Interaction (HOI) to Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), examining how care (attentive handling of robots) and learning (gaining insights through interactions) relate to users' wellbeing. A survey of 397 robot users in Japan analyzed the relationships between usage frequency, care, learning, loneliness, and life satisfaction. Results showed that more frequent use was associated with greater care and learning. Care was linked to lower loneliness, while learning was associated with higher life satisfaction, suggesting distinct psychological effects. Although robot type did not affect care or well-being, learning was higher for communicative and mobile robots than for cleaning robots. However, the study did not fully address differences among robot types or clarify distinctions between robots and static objects. Moreover, participants were limited to current robot owners, possibly biasing results. Future research should examine how robot characteristics influence psychological processes and expand to broader, more diverse populations to better understand human-robot coexistence.