Reframing HRI Design Opportunities for Social Robots: Lessons Learnt from a Service Robotics Case Study Approach Using UX for HRI

Sara Khan,Claudio Germak

doi:10.3390/fi10100101

Abstract

Over the last few decades, semi-autonomous machine’s technology started to promote awareness towards the importance of human–robot interaction (HRI) for improving daily activities. More affordable social robots are being commercially released and in order to implement viable applications of HRI, a combination human-computer interaction and user experience methodologies could play a pivotal role in assessing new scenarios and evaluating new investigations. However, literature shows that it is still challenging to reach an optimal user experience with robotic companions. The aim of the study was to determine the chance to enhance the user experience with a semi-autonomous social robot, using user experience and human–computer interaction methodologies. In this study, a social robotic companion has been developed and prototyped in order to be adopted in a specific public environment such as a company workspace. The challenges emerged from this peculiar environment triggered the need for a more productive and comfortable office for the employees, and, at the same time, the usability, acceptance and likeability of the robotic companion have been evaluated. The results emphasize that, since HRI is highly interdisciplinary, the benefits of combining approaches from other fields could positively benefit from a meaningful social interaction with the users.

Highlights

In the last two decades, a growing body of literature started to recognize the importance of making workspaces more comfortable for workers and increasing efficiency [1,2]
This study is aimed at achieving and implementing a user experience (UX) applied inside an office workspace, it is important to consider that a positive experience could be beneficial for other public contexts such as airports, hospitals, train stations or in any environment where a social robot could contribute to deepening research in the field of the contribution from UX to human–robot interaction (HRI) and the array of commercial applications [11]
It is argued that UX design can be supportive in pointing out the relevance of evaluating socially interactive robots and user experience design that can be helpful in giving new tools to unfold several issues related to HRI

Summary

Introduction

In the last two decades, a growing body of literature started to recognize the importance of making workspaces more comfortable for workers and increasing efficiency [1,2]. It is argued that UX design can be supportive in pointing out the relevance of evaluating socially interactive robots and user experience design that can be helpful in giving new tools to unfold several issues related to HRI. It can be useful for practitioners, such as robot developers, to adopt existing techniques from HCI and UX and use them after appropriately shaping them for the context of the HRI [12].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion