What role an agent could play at home?: Exploring the social roles of smart home system based on a content analysis

Smart home systems not only serve users to fulfill pragmatic goals, but also ‘live with’ users. Despite the conceptual possibilities, it still remains unclear whether and what social roles current smart home systems are intended by the companies. In this paper, we report a retrospective study on 15 selected smart home systems (SHSs) on current market. We used content analysis to identify themes and categories of function, personality and social role of these SHSs, and also explore the connections among them. Four representative social roles were identified: instrument, lobby boy, assistant and family member. Four related personalities were found: competent, helpful, trustworthy, and caring. Results of this study revealed an overview of current social roles that smart home system plays as well as the personalities they exhibit.Design Aesthetic