CHI - Personalize My Roomba

"Pimp My Roomba": Designing for Personalization

By JaYoung Sung, Rebecca E. Grinter, and Henrik I. Christensen (Georgia Institute of Technology)

Summary:

This article studied the natural instinct to want to customize an object to suit your taste and this act will have a positive impact on your experience with the object. This need to personalize is evident in today's technology (cell phones, MP3 players, and laptops). From this viewpoint, the researchers conducted a 6-month study on how participants would use a "personalization toolkit" with a robot. The robot chosen is a household vacuuming device, iRobot's Roomba ™.

Study

The study consisted of 30 households in Atlanta, all families were given a Roomba. Only half of the participants received a "personalization toolkit". The researchers kept in contact with the households throughout the study and noted who and why personalized their robots. Also, they were given booklets and instructions on how to use the toolkit on the robot. However, the participants were not obligated to change their Roomba in any way.

Findings

Six of the fifteen households chose to personalize their Roomba with four using letter sets and markers, and the remaining two using the purchased Roomba skins. Also, 2/3 of the households did make an attempt to personalize by going online to review the skins, but the majority did not find skins suitable to their taste.

The researchers concluded that people were motivated to project an identity to the robot, such as a name and gender. Also, 2 participants wanted to express the robot's meaning to them and used the decoration to reflect appreciation. Lastly, some participants chose to personalize so it would be noticeable in the home or blend in the home's background. Thus, the researchers determined that personalization increased the connection between the household and the Roomba which could lead to increased use and proper maintenance.

Further observations from the study include that none of the households without the toolkits chose to decorate the robot. They viewed it as too complicated and required too much time. The researchers conclude that personalization can be encouraged and that users need support in design to facilitate customization.

Discussion:

This article is significant because it demonstrates a person's natural need to personalize their tech toys and it improves interaction. By identifying this need, one can incorporate into the product design. It could improve customer loyalty. Also, it shows that we have a tendency to want to humanize our tech objects...haven't you talked to your cell phone or laptop when it doesn't follow instruction?