Robots Save Us Time — But Do They Make Us Happier? | Technology - Harvard Business Review

As of 2019, more than 14 million Americans owned a robotic vacuum cleaner, as Harvard Business Review reports.

Robots Save Us Time — But Do They Make Us Happier?
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Robotic lawn mowers tend to our yards, robotic suitcases follow us through the airport, and smart cooking machines prepare ingredients and implement entire recipes. Some autonomous products even play with and clean up after our pets. These tools are meant to improve people’s lives, relieving them of chores and making them happier as a result — and while some do this, other’s don’t. How can business leaders ensure that their companies are developing products that people actually feel good about using?

As consumer psychologists, we have accumulated a great deal of evidence that spending money to outsource disliked tasks — such as by paying for a housecleaner — can improve happiness, lower stress, and improve our romantic relationships (even during the pandemic). But as technology develops, we have begun outsourcing not only to humans, but to machines as well.

This trend is accelerating now that many in-person services are impossible due to social distancing requirements. As such, we have shifted our focus from studying the impact of time-saving services toward better understanding how autonomous products do (or don’t) improve consumer happiness...

What should developers of autonomous products do?  

Overall, our research points to a few concrete strategies for companies looking to maximize consumer satisfaction.

1. Remind consumers how much time they are saving — doing so can increase happiness. As such, marketing communications should focus on reminding consumers that autonomous products can save them time, which they can then spend on important activities such as work, going for a short walk outside, or (virtually) socializing with a friend. 
2. Companies should limit human-like features, and should consider giving their autonomous products clearly non-human names — the more human-like the product seems, the guiltier consumers feel when using it. This is exacerbated if the consumer is encouraged to name the product themselves.
3.  Companies should consider encouraging consumers to enjoy these products — and the time-saving benefits — in secret (as opposed to telling their manager or their mother that a robot plays with and cleans up after their pet). Secret enjoyment, or “inconspicuous consumption,” is the best bet for maximizing joy and minimizing shame when using autonomous products. If consumers are eager to talk about their autonomous products, companies could encourage consumers to highlight the fact that the time these products save them is allocated toward productive and meaningful activities, such as work or family time, which could mitigate concerns around appearing lazy.

The pandemic has only made time-management more challenging. 

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Source: Harvard Business Review