1,721,017 research outputs found
Design for Human-Robot Acceptability: The Case of Edutainment Robotics for Children
No full textThis article presents a reflection about the concept of acceptability and its role in the field of human-robot interaction. Multiple acceptability models and case studies were taken into account to understand how this theme is currently addressed. Two main aspects emerge. On one hand, the main acceptability factors are usually addressed separately. On the other hand, the concept of acceptability is generally addressed in the evaluation stage of the projects. However, developing acceptable robotic solutions requires to take into account these factors as design drivers, during the whole design process. Thus, an acceptability driven approach was proposed and applied during the Robot & Gaming project, in which edutainment robots were used to design play experiences for children
Design Research per HRI ludica. Il ruolo del Design per l'accettazione dei robot nella vita quotidiana
No full textNei prossimi anni si assisterà ad una forte crescita della Robotica di Servizio che genererà nuove sfide, soprattutto dal punto di vista dell'accettazione. In particolare, la categoria dei robot per l'intrattenimento, grazie alla sua natura giocosa, assumerà un ruolo strategico per l'interazione uomo-robot (HRI), l'accettabilità dei robot e la loro adozione. L'aspetto più interessante dei robot è la loro fisicità: questi rendono possibile la fisicizzazione dei personaggi e degli elementi anche nei giochi di natura virtuale. Per questo motivo, i robot raggiungono un alto livello di engagement. Questo aspetto deve essere preso in considerazione come una sfida per il design che può condurre allo sviluppo di modalità d'interazione innovative nel quotidiano. Quindi, come si può sfruttare la fisicità dei robot per progettare degli scenari di interazione significativi? Questa domanda offre grandi spunti progettuali. In particolare, la figura del designer, può rispondere a tale sfida spostando il focus dalla tecnologia alla creazione di valore per l'uomo. Il progetto Phygital Play è stato sviluppato sulla base di queste riflessioni, con lo scopo di definire un nuovo scenario di gioco attraverso una progettazione basata sull'uomo
ROBOTICS IN HOME ENVIRONMENT: DIFFUSION AND ACCEPTANCE THROUGH A PARASITIC DESIGN APPROACH
No full textThis paper presents a concept of an edutainment robot designed to improve the quality of domestic environment. The design process reflects on the role of robotics in home context highlighting the strong sales growth of robotic vacuum cleaner. A focus on the human robot interaction (HRI) aspects drives to the adoption of a parasitic design approach: it is not necessary to design a new robot that can move, sense, elaborate and interact, but rather combine a robot able to move around (like Roomba) with an intelligent module. The design process proceeds together with the prototype developmen
Service Robotics in educational context: generating value through design methodology
No full textThis paper present an overview of the design methodology applied to Service Robotic in educational context, to explore and highlight weaknesses and strenghts related to the introduction of robotic solutions in educative activities, like attending lessons. The Design assumes, in this field, a key role to the production of value for the end users, moving its analysis from the environment to single actions, linking points of view from different disciplines. Specifically, the design process leads to a proposal of robotic telepresence service, in which technological aspects are evaluated in relation to ethical issues and the aim is to propose a service concept which actually meets human needs. To find the ethical dimension of the service, the design process synthesized the operation principles of the robot and explored the spectrum of possible applications, identifying users for whom the service would bring greater benefits, that in this case are people who experience unusual and discriminatory health condition, such as disabilities or disease requiring long-term care, as in cancer patients
Design for Child-Robot Play The implications of Design Research within the field of Human-Robot Interaction studies for Children
Full text linkThis thesis investigates the intersections of three disciplines, that are Design Research, Human-Robot Interaction studies, and Child Studies. In particular, this doctoral research is focused on two research questions, namely, what is (or might be) the role of design research in HRI? And, how to design acceptable and desirable child-robot play applications?
The first chapter introduces an overview of the mutual interest between robotics and design that is at the basis of the research. On the one hand, the interest of design toward robotics is documented through some exemplary projects from artists and designers that speculate on the human-robot coexistence condition. Vice versa, the robotics interest toward design is documented by referring to some tracks of robotic conferences, scienti c workshops and robotics journals which focused on the design-robotics relationship. Finally, a brief description of the background conditions that characterized this doctoral research are introduced, such as the fact of being a research founded by a company.
The second chapter provides an overview of the state of the art of the intersections between three multidisciplinary disciplines. First, a de nition of Design Research is provided, together with its main trends and open issues. Then, the review focuses on the contribution of Design Research to the HRI eld, which can be summed up in actions focused on three aspects: artefacts, stakeholders, and contexts.
This is followed by a focus on the role of Design Research within the context of children studies, in which it is possible to identify two main design-child relationships: design as a method for developing children’s learning experiences; and children as part of the design process for developing novel interactive systems.
The third chapter introduces the Research through Design (RtD) approach and its relevance in conducting design research in HRI. The proposed methodology, based on this approach, is particularly characterized by the presence of design explorations as study methods. These, in turn, are developed through a common project’s methodology, also reported in this chapter.
The fourth chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the scenario in which the child-robot interaction takes place. This was aimed at understanding what is edutainment robotics for children, its common features, how it relates to existing children play types, and where the interaction takes place. The chapter provides also a focus on the relationship between children and technology on a more general level, through which two themes and relative design opportunities were identi ed: physically active play and objects-to-think-with.
These were respectively addressed in the two design explorations presented in this thesis: Phygital Play and Shybo.
The Phygital Play project consists of an exploration of natural interaction modalities with robots, through mixed-reality, for fostering children’s active behaviours. To this end, a game platform was developed for allowing children to play with or against a robot, through body movement.
Shybo, instead, is a low-anthropomorphic robot for playful learning activities with children that can be carried out in educational contexts. The robot, which reacts to properties of the physical environment, is designed to support different kinds of experiences.
Then, the chapter eight is dedicated to the research outcomes, that were de ned through a process of reflection. The contribution of the research was analysed and documented by focusing on three main levels, namely: artefact, knowledge and theory. The artefact level corresponds to the situated implementations developed through the projects. The knowledge level consists of a set of actionable principles, emerged from the results and lessons learned from the projects. At the theory level, a theoretical framework was proposed with the aim of informing the future design of child- robot play applications. Thelastchapterprovidesa naloverviewofthe doctoral research, a series of limitations regarding the research, its process and its outcomes, and some indications for future research
Designing Playful HRI: Acceptability of Robots in Everyday Life through Play
No full textThe spread of edutainment robotics in everyday life raises new opportunities that can lead to a redefinition of the traditional game scenarios. Robots, indeed, represents a challenge for designer since allows a physical embodiment of a game character/element. These new opportunities have been analyzed in parallel with the world of childhood, its main characteristics, current topics and emerging issues. This analysis is at the basis of the Phygital Play project, a mixed-reality playground in which children can play with or against a robot. The project aims to encourage children to play physically in order to reduce sedentary behaviors, which are recently increasing accordingly to the spread of screen-based activities
Shybo. An open-source low-anthropomorphic robot for children
Full text linkThis article presents Shybo: a novel low-anthropomorphic robot for children. The robot, resulted from the combination of open-source hardware and software, is able to perceive sounds and to react through two non-verbal behaviors: hat's movement and lighting. By taking advantage of an open- source machine-learning software, the robot can be easily trained by children. This robot can be employed in research to support human-robot interaction studies with children, for investigating perceptual aspects of robot's features or for investigating children' cognitive abilities. It can also be used for applications in educational context to support playful learning experiences
Robots, Aesthetics, and the Heritage Context
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The
Interactions
website (interactions.acm.org) hosts a stable of bloggers who share insights and observations on HCI, often challenging current practices. Each issue we'll publish selected posts from some of the leading voices in the field.
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Shybo. Design of a research artifact for human-robot interaction studies
Full text linkThis article discusses the role of Design Research in the field of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). Notably, the Research through Design (RtD) approach is proposed as a valuable method to develop HRI research artefacts due to the importance of having a physical artefact, a robot, that enables direct interaction. Moreover, there is a growing interest in HRI for design methodologies as methods for investigation. Related to this, the article presents an example of a design process, focused on hands-on activities, namely sketching, 3D modelling, prototyping, and documenting. These making practices were applied to the development of Shybo, a small sound-reactive robot for children. Particular attention has been given to the five prototypes that led to the definition of the current solution. Morphological, behavioral, and interaction aspects were investigated throughout the whole process. Each phase of the design process was then documented with the intent of sharing potentially replicable practices and contributing to the understanding of the role that RtD can play in HRI
Virgil Robot at Racconigi's Castle: a Design Challenge
Full text linkThis paper discusses the role of Design Research (DR) as a mediator between robotics and cultural heritage. This issue has been addressed in the project Virgil, a telepresence robot for visiting inaccessible areas of Racconigi Castle in Piedmont, Italy. A project developed applying an iterative design process that combines the traditional activities of design practice, such as product and service design, to a more theoretical and conceptual activities of DR aimed to generate a meaningful solution. Both the museum context and the state of the art of museum robotic applications have been analysed to define the ethical requirements for the development of the service. The analytical phase is followed by the design stage in which a service concept has been defined, through a process of continuous debate and co-design with various stakeholders. The process has led to the prototyping of a dedicated robot tested in the real environment with random visitors
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