Robotic Companionship: How Forgetfulness Affects Long-Term Human-Robot Interaction

The research presented in this paper is part of an ongoing research project which looks at the role cognitive bias plays in developing long-term companionship between a cognitively imperfect robot and humans. In this paper we discuss, how a 'human-like' trait such as forgetfulness can play a role in robot-human interaction to develop long-term companionship. One of the robots used in this study called ERWIN was given a level of forgetfulness as a reference of Misattribution for its cognitive bias. It is hoped that humanlike fallible characteristics (e.g. making mistakes, wrong selection, forgetfulness and other imperfect behaviours) can help in developing a more natural and believable attachment bond between Robots and Humans. By developing forgetfulness in a robot, it is expected that the user can relate to the robot more easily which in turn can help them to develop a stronger long-term companionship towards the robot. In previous experiments the robot ERWIN forgot and misattributed some of the participant's information which was noted previously. The experimental results show that the participants initially warmed to the robot with the forgetfulness trait. To continue experimenting with misattribution and other cognitive biases, current experiments with a humanoid robot MARC and a group of participants is being carried out.