Design of Two Morphing Robot Surfaces and Results from a User Study On What People Want and Expect of Them, Towards a "Robot-Room"

We propose, examine prototypes of, and collect user input on morphing robotic surfaces, "robot-room" elements that, individually or in combination, change the functionality of the rooms we live in, directly controlled by the room’s occupants engaging with it. Robot-rooms represent an advance in human-robot interaction whereby human interaction is within a machine that physically envelops us. We discuss the motivation for such robot-rooms, present initial work aimed at their physical realization, and report on a user study of 80 participants to learn what people might want of and expect from robot rooms, the results of which will inform both the iterative design of the robot room and the thinking of our community as it grapples with how we want to live with (and "in") robots.