“PocketBot 就像敲门声！”：设计支持异地恋关系的聊天机器人

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许多情侣经历异地关系，“情侣技术”已被设计用于影响某些关系实践或在挑战性情境中维持关系。聊天机器人在调解人们互动方面表现出很大潜力。然而，关于聊天机器人是否以及如何成为异地恋关系的理想和有效调解手段，目前知之甚少。本文进行了一项两阶段研究来设计和评估聊天机器人 PocketBot，旨在为异地恋提供有效干预。在第一阶段，我们通过进行需求发现访谈来制定设计思路，并对 11 名参与者进行了试点测试。在第二阶段，我们对 18 名参与者（9 对异地恋情侣）进行了为期一周的现场试验，随后进行退出访谈，获得了关于使用 PocketBot 的可行性、有效性和潜在陷阱的经验性理解。首先，“敲门”功能允许情侣在躲避冲突后知道何时恢复互动；Certain participants preferred this feature (e.g., participants with stoic personalities). Second, a humor feature was introduced to spice up couples' conversations. This feature was favored by all participants, although some couples' perceptions of the feature varied due to their different cultural or language backgrounds. Third, a deep talk feature enabled couples at different relational stages to conduct opportunistic conversations about sensitive topics for exploring unknowns about each other, which resulted in surprising discoveries between couples who have been in relationships for years. Our findings provide inspiration for future conversational-based couple technologies that support emotional communication.