How may I serve you?: a robot companion approaching a seated person in a helping context

This paper presents the combined results of two studies that investigated how a robot should best approach and place itself relative to a seated human subject. Two live Human Robot Interaction (HRI) trials were performed involving a robot fetching an object that the human had requested, using different approach directions. Results of the trials indicated that most subjects disliked a frontal approach, except for a small minority of females, and most subjects preferred to be approached from either the left or right side, with a small overall preference for a right approach by the robot. Handedness and occupation were not related to these preferences. We discuss the results of the user studies in the context of developing a path planning system for a mobile robot. Categories and Subject Descriptors A.m [Miscellaneous]: Human Robot Interaction – Social Robots I.2.9 [Artificial Intelligence]: Robotics – Mobile robots General Terms Human Factors, Keywords Human-robot interaction, socia...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: HRI
• Authors: Kerstin Dautenhahn, Michael L. Walters, Sarah Woods, Kheng Lee Koay, Chrystopher L. Nehaniv, Emrah Akin Sisbot, Rachid Alami, Thierry Siméon
• Keywords: HRI 2006, Human Robot Interaction, Live Human Robot, Robots