Communicating robot intentions: Usability study of a socially-Aware mobile robot

Sara Lopez Alaguero*, Andrei Chirtoaca, Dimitrios Chrysostomou, Lazaros Nalpantidis

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

26 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Mobile robots need to understand human actions and produce socially accepted behaviors. In this paper, we address this issue and propose a method for mobile robots to communicate their intentions to humans. We also recognize the need for robots to move in a social manner by respecting the personal space of humans and not interrupting their interactions with other people or objects in the environment. We present a retrofitted MiR100 equipped with an RGB-D camera and a video projector. The RGB-D camera is used in human-Aware navigation to recognize humans and predict their trajectories so as for the robot to react proactively to human actions, creating a safe and seamless human-robot collaboration. Here, the video projector acts as a communication channel between the robot and humans, as it transmits the robot's motion intentions. In order to evaluate the robot's ability to communicate its intentions, we performed extensive human-centered HRI experiments where 30 participants interacted with the robot integrated with socially aware navigation and a video projector. Our experiments demonstrated that the social acceptance of the mobile robot was favored by the use of human-Aware navigation and its combination with the video projector raised the mobile robot's usability and comfort by 6% and 12%, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings of 2023 IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques
Number of pages6
PublisherIEEE
Publication date2023
ISBN (Print)979-8-3503-3084-7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023
Event2023 IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques - Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Duration: 17 Oct 202319 Oct 2023

Conference

Conference2023 IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques
LocationTechnical University of Denmark
Country/TerritoryDenmark
CityCopenhagen
Period17/10/202319/10/2023
SeriesIST 2023 - IEEE International Conference on Imaging Systems and Techniques, Proceedings

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Communicating robot intentions: Usability study of a socially-Aware mobile robot'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this