How to Include Humanoid Robots into Experimental Research: A Multi-Step Approach

Robots have penetrated many areas of daily life, including increased uses of humanoid robots in personal and organizational settings such as health care, eldercare, and service encounters with customers. Little research examines humanoid robots in these professional settings, even though the human-robot interaction (HRI) is particularly critical in such contexts. On the basis of a literature review and experience from several experimental studies, this article offers some guidance for designing HRI experiments with humanoid robots. In addition to detailing major challenges associated with designing HRI studies, this article suggests important next steps for experimental research with humanoid robots, as well as implications for further study

When a robot orients visitors to an exhibit. Referential practices and interactional dynamics in the real world

Pitsch K, Wrede S. When a robot orients visitors to an exhibit. Referential practices and interactional dynamics in the real world. In: Ro-Man 2014. Edinburgh; 2014: 36-42.A basic task for robots interacting with humans consists in guiding their focus of attention. Existing guidelines for a robot’s multimodal deixis are primarily focused on the speaker (talk-gesture-coordination, handshape). Conducting a field trial with a museum guide robot, we tested these indivi- dualistic referential strategies in the dynamic conditions of real-world HRI and found that their success ranges between 27% and 95%. Qualitative video-based micro-analysis revealed that the users experienced problems when they were not facing the robot at the moment of the deictic gesture. Also the importance of the robot’s head orientation became evident. Implications are drawn as design guidelines for an inter- actional account of modeling referential strategies for HRI