Young Person’s Contribution: Can Robots Impact Our Food Choices?

Guest post by Aura Anderson-Ross, University of Lincoln

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Can a robot convince you to eat more sustainable foods?

With concerns surrounding the climate and food systems growing, a lot of research has been focusing on the best ways to promote sustainable eating.

One such example is the development of social robots to provide nudges towards greener food decisions. An experiment conducted inside of the University of Lincoln cafeteria showed the potential of such technology.

The Study

The cafeteria offered a variety of hot foods that were made fresh each day.

The menu would have slight alterations each day, each week always offering two beef based dishes, two chicken/turkey and one fish. For every meat-based dish they would offer a meat-free alternative which would be the target of our nudges when less general.

Deploying a social robot to stand at the entrance to the cafeteria, the quantity of purchases of each food item was collated and analysed to see the differences from before and after the robot’s introduction. Posters were also deployed in alternating weeks to explore the difference between traditional nudging techniques and modern technology. Foods were analysed in categories based on the main protein of the dish, or broader groups such as meat, vegetarian, or vegan (with some overlapping).

The robot would simply stand at the entrance, waving to people as they passed. Anyone who went to the robot would have it give a simple sentence that served as a nudge, as well as nudges displayed on the touchscreen on its chest that could also be interacted with.

Our nudges varied from designing our poster using strategies often deployed in pro-vegan posters such as images of happy animals, as well as images associated with a greener environment such as a clean earth smiling and a polluted earth crying. We displayed the average emissions of each protein source, which displayed that meat is often less sustainable than plant-based foods as well as emotional based nudges where the robot would claim one of the target foods, such as vegan chip shop bites, were its favourite item on the menu.

The Results

After analysing the sales data across the study period, a downward trend in beef purchases was found during the weeks the robot was present, though this was not statistical significance. Clearer effects emerged in the jacket potato section, which offered a consistent menu week-on-week. Here, vegetarian purchases rose significantly when the robot was deployed, while cheese-based options also saw a significant increase and non-ruminant meats such as chicken and turkey saw a decrease. Posters alone showed next to no effect across any of these categories.

These results display a positive trend and frame social robots as a potential improvement on traditional posters for increasing sustainable eating habits and promoting a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

For more information check out the paper at the University of Lincoln repository or copy the following link if you are not redirected. (https://hdl.handle.net/10779/lincoln.32748402)

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