HRI: From Interaction to (Lived) Experience

Abstract

After a couple of decades of conducting research in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), the way we understand, design and study human-robot interactions inevitably changes. Based on the preliminary findings of the ethnographic study involving roboticists, we argue that there has been a gradual shift in the HRI field from thinking of human engagement with robots in terms of ‘interaction’ towards that of ‘experience’. This is largely due to an increasing use of different robotic systems in the real-world environments that largely relies on the long-term user engagement with robots as well as a degree of human-likeness in social robots that facilitates specific experiences people have in relation to such robots. A shift towards ‘interaction experience’ goes far beyond merely adding or expanding on a User Experience (UX) perspective in HRI and it also has implications for how we understand ethics in robotics. We argue here that the change is ultimately towards human engagement with robots understood in terms of ‘lived experience’ and ‘lived ethics’ which in turn may help us envision ‘a good life’.