Designing for experiences with socially interactive robots

AbstractIn this article, we present the user-centered development of the service robot IURO. IURO’s goal is to find the way to a designated place in town without any previous map knowledge, just by retrieving information from asking pedestrians for directions. We present the 3-years development process,which involved a series of studies on its appearance, communication model, feedback modalities, and social navigation mechanisms. Our main contribution lies within the final field trial.With the autonomous IURO platform, we performed a series of six way-finding runs (over 24 hours of run-time in total) in the city center of Munich, Germany. The robot interacted with approximately 100 pedestrians of which 36 interactions included a full route dialogue. A variety of empirical methods was used to explore reactions of primary users (pedestrians who actually interacted with the robot) and secondary users (bystanders who observed others interacting). The gathered data provides insights into usability, user experience, and acceptance of IURO and allowed us deriving recommendations for the development of other socially interactive robots.

Download Full-text

Use of Robots to Help Students With Diverse Needs

Handbook of Research on Policies, Protocols, and Practices for Social Work in the Digital World - Advances in Public Policy and Administration ◽

10.4018/978-1-7998-7772-1.ch005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 74-90

Author(s):

Ayşe Tuna

Keyword(s):

Problem Solving ◽

General Education ◽

Learning Needs ◽

Education Student ◽

Age Group ◽

Key Skills ◽

Team Spirit ◽

Education Robots ◽

Socially Interactive Robots ◽

Education Of Students

In most countries, the student population in schools continues to grow more diverse, and the unique learning needs of the students are recognized. In this respect, it is crucial to ensure that policies foster educational outcomes for all students, not just an average general education student. Since working on robots is very stimulating for especially young students, allowing them to develop key skills that will help them be successful during their school years and beyond in terms of problem-solving, creativity, scientific approach, and team spirit, robots are becoming more popular as an educational platform. For that reason, many types of robots are being involved in education. Robots with different features and capabilities, such as simple robots or socially interactive robots, are used in education, and usually, objectives and targets of a study and age group of students dictate the choices regarding robots. Considering the different roles of robots in education, in this chapter, the use of robots in the education of students with diverse needs is reviewed.

Download Full-text

Socially Embodied Human-Robot Interaction

Handbook of Research on Synthesizing Human Emotion in Intelligent Systems and Robotics - Advances in Computational Intelligence and Robotics ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-7278-9.ch007 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 169-190 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

J. Lindblom ◽

B. Alenljung

Keyword(s):

User Experience ◽

Human Robot Interaction ◽

The Body ◽

Human Interaction ◽

Future Research ◽

Crucial Importance ◽

Robot Interaction ◽

Use Of Technology ◽

Fundamental Challenge ◽

Socially Interactive Robots

A fundamental challenge of human interaction with socially interactive robots, compared to other interactive products, comes from them being embodied. The embodied nature of social robots questions to what degree humans can interact ‘naturally' with robots, and what impact the interaction quality has on the user experience (UX). UX is fundamentally about emotions that arise and form in humans through the use of technology in a particular situation. This chapter aims to contribute to the field of human-robot interaction (HRI) by addressing, in further detail, the role and relevance of embodied cognition for human social interaction, and consequently what role embodiment can play in HRI, especially for socially interactive robots. Furthermore, some challenges for socially embodied interaction between humans and socially interactive robots are outlined and possible directions for future research are presented. It is concluded that the body is of crucial importance in understanding emotion and cognition in general, and, in particular, for a positive user experience to emerge when interacting with socially interactive robots.

Download Full-text

Modeling the acceptance of socially interactive robotics

Interaction Studies ◽

10.1075/is.12.3.04shi ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 12 (3) ◽

pp. 430-460 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Dong-Hee Shin ◽

Hyungseung Choo

Keyword(s):

Social Presence ◽

Behavioral Intention ◽

Social Robots ◽

Perceived Usefulness ◽

Intention To Use ◽

Robot Acceptance ◽

Proposed Model ◽

Socially Interactive Robots ◽

Acceptance Model ◽

Practical Implications

Based on an integrated theoretical framework, this study analyzes user acceptance behavior toward socially interactive robots focusing on the variables that influence the users’ attitudes and intentions to adopt robots. Individuals’ responses to questions about attitude and intention to use robots were collected and analyzed according to different factors modified from a variety of theories. The results of the proposed model explain that social presence is key to the behavioral intention to accept social robots. The proposed model shows the significant roles of perceived adaptivity and sociability, both of which affect attitude as well as influence perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment, respectively. These factors can be key features of users’ expectations of social robots, which can give practical implications for designing and developing meaningful social interaction between robots and humans. The new set of variables is specific to social robots, acting as factors that enhance attitudes and behavioral intentions in human–robot interactions. Keywords: Robot acceptance model; Socially interactive robots; Social robots; Social presence

Download Full-text