Emotional Attachment, Performance, and Viability in Teams Collaborating with Embodied Physical Action (EPA) Robots

Although teams are increasingly employing embodied physical action (EPA) robots as a collaborative technology to accomplish their work, we know very little about what makes such teams successful. This paper has two objectives: the first is to examine whether a team’s emotional attachment to its robots can lead to better team performance and viability; the second is to determine whether robot and team identification can promote a team’s emotional attachment to its robots. To achieve these objectives, we conducted a between-subjects experiment with 57 teams working with robots. Teams performed better and were more viable when they were emotionally attached to their robots. Both robot identification and team identification increased a team’s emotional attachment to its robots. Results of this study have implications for collaboration using EPA robots specifically and for collaboration technology in general.