When Robots Move In: Living with Conversational AI in the Home

When Robots Move In explores what happens when AI becomes a permanent member of the household. Drawing on years of immersive research, the book reveals how voice assistants transform domestic life, reshaping relationships, routines, and spaces. It offers a compelling look at the negotiations and adaptations that emerge as families integrate AI into their everyday lives, uncovering universal patterns of interaction that resonate across cultures. The book introduces innovative frameworks like the Effort Triad, the Embodied Interaction Heuristic, and brand anthropomorphism to analyze how people engage with stationary voice assistants. It also presents practical concepts such as custodianship roles, spatial resistance tactics, and compassionate automation, offering tools to navigate shared spaces with AI. By connecting these findings to the next generation of domestic technology - mobile humanoid robots - it provides a forward-looking perspective on the future of AI in the home. This book bridges disciplines such as human-computer interaction, sociology, and design, and offers both theoretical insights and practical applications to understand the evolving role of AI in everyday life. It is a key resource for researchers, designers, and policymakers who are working with conversational AI, social robots, or smart home technologies.