Attachment to assistive technology: A new conceptualisation

How people use assistive technologies depends on how they relate to them. As technologies such as assistive robots are developed - that have a physical presence, some autonomy, and the ability to adapt and communicate - the relationships that people have with them will become more complex and may take on some of the characteristics of the social relationships that we have with each other. In this paper, we compare the relationships that people form with assistive devices to the bonds we develop with people, pets, and objects. Building on conceptual frameworks provided by social psychology we aim to develop a taxonomy that can provide a consistent framework with which to describe and analyse human-other relationships, hopefully leading to improved design of assistive technologies.