When Can I Get a Robot for my Home?: A Constrained Design Approach to Feasible, Deployable Companion

Abstract

Research in personal care and companion robotics has successfully demonstrated potential for social robots to support people and improve general wellness. Despite this, we still have not reached even modest adoption and deployment of actual robots in use, in people’s homes or in care centers. We posit that this problem – that research successes have not translated to domestic robots – results from a predominant design approach in social human-robot interaction: research often studies idealized social interaction with near-perfect simulated robot behaviors (e.g., via Wizard of Oz). However, without the sophisticated teams and infrastructure needed for this research, the behaviors are often not feasible in dynamic home environments. We propose an alternate design approach that works within the practical constraints of currently feasible and deployable robotic technology and present a set of design strategies that can be helpful in creating these robots.

Citation

A.L. González, D. Y. Geiskkovitch and J. E. Young, "When Can I Get a Robot for my Home?: A Constrained Design Approach to Feasible, Deployable Companion," In Proceedings of the 29th International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN 2020 WORKSHOP ON SOCIAL HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION OF HUMAN-CARE SERVICE ROBOTS). 2020.