Humans and Robots in Times of Quarantine Based on First-Hand Accounts

A quarantine is an effective measure in order to contain a disease and it is needed to be used more often in current times. Quarantine forces people to have minimal to no social contact with other humans for a certain period of time. Past work says this isolation can have a serious psychological impact on people’s lives, which can have dramatic consequences. Research can help find the positive and negative experiences of people in quarantine, in order to determine their needs. But how do people respond to quarantine according to their own self accounts? We look to a video platform as a unique opportunity to explore this question. Robots can be used in times of quarantine so isolation can be maintained. However, these robots should be matching the actual needs of the people in quarantine in order to have an effect. This research will use a content analysis of first-hand accounts of people in quarantine in order to find their experiences and needs. After that, there will be an analysis of robots that are used in times of quarantine. Lastly, these two analyses will be used to find out if the robots match the needs of the people in quarantine. We report on two major components to first-hand social media quarantine accounts: emotional response and procedural explanations provided by detainees, and explore potential reasons for them choosing to share these types of content. On top of that, we report on robots that are mentioned by social media, the tasks that they do, and the needs they fulfill. This research will expand on the current knowledge domain of needs in quarantine and will also add to the knowledge domain of the effectiveness of robots in quarantine.