Haru in the Kitchen: Investigating Family Members’ Perceptions Toward a Social Robot Mediator of Food Experiences

When families live together, they often share meals, and food plays a central part in their everyday routines and rituals. When this changes and families are separated by distance, they may transition these practices to technology-mediated ones. Social robots have shown effectiveness in facilitating human-to-human interactions in various communication contexts. In this study, we explore the possibility of distant families interacting through a social robot mediator in the kitchen. We conducted 9 scenario-based interviews using the Haru social robot as a probe. Our findings highlight opportunities for food-related mediation and participants’ hesitations and concerns. We discuss how future research can address these issues, particularly in terms of how a social robot can be positioned in the family and food space, how the robot can be customized for the family’s values, and how the robot can serve as a mediator during opportune contexts (e.g., playfulness) and moments (e.g., culturally synchronous practices).